Yanmar SD 60

[Avihoo]

Lately, I've mounted a new two Engines Yanmar 3JH5 & SD60-5 on my 45' Catamaran. After about 20 hours of engine operation, one of the Sail Drive started to 'slip'.
Under the Yanmar warranty, an authorized Yanmar mechanic, replaces the Seal Kit- Clatch. Then, after another 50 hours of the SD operation, the same Gear 'slip' have started.
Is any of you had an a experience with such a problem?

[arsenelupiga]

you are not talking SD 50?

I thought SD 60 has fool proof non slip solution based on literature.

The only problem I heard about sd 60 was vibrations.

I have sd 50.

[Captain Bill]

I replaced my SD40s with SD60s in June. I took them from Florida to Maine and am now in NC and have about 200 hours on them. I am distressed to hear someone is having a clutch slipping problem with them as that is why I replaced my SD40s. I retrofitted my drives to my existing 3JH3CEs rather than a full repower. So far my only complaint is excessive vibration at certain RPMs. Vibration in rotating machinery is never a good thing.

What kind of props do you have and do you keep the engines in neutral or reverse when the engine is not running. Are you aware of the warning in the manual to never leave the drive in forward with the engine not running? I have autostream feathering props set up for left hand rotation. I leave my drives in reverse when the engine is not running. Previous experience has taught me that if the drives are in neutral and the prop collides with a pot warp the prop is knocked out of the feathered position and it starts rotating which wraps the warp around the prop quite quickly. With the drive in reverse the prop can only rotate about 60 degree and the warp drops off. I got through Maine and the Chesapeake this year without picking up one pot, but I digress. I use Rotella 15w40 oil in my drives, what do you use?

My concern would be that simply putting in a clutch kit might only have been treating the symptom not the cause of your problem. The clutch slippage might be by any number of issues such as a badly adjusted shifter or perhaps some other internal issue with the drive.

[colemj]

When Volvo changed their saildrives to a clutch disc pack, they shipped with ATF. These drives were quickly burning clutches because the ATF was too slippery. So they sent out a bulletin to change to regular motor oil and the problems went away.

Mark

[Avihoo]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

I replaced my SD40s with SD60s in June. I took them from Florida to Maine and am now in NC and have about 200 hours on them. I am distressed to hear someone is having a clutch slipping problem with them as that is why I replaced my SD40s. I retrofitted my drives to my existing 3JH3CEs rather than a full repower. So far my only complaint is excessive vibration at certain RPMs. Vibration in rotating machinery is never a good thing.

What kind of props do you have and do you keep the engines in neutral or reverse when the engine is not running. Are you aware of the warning in the manual to never leave the drive in forward with the engine not running? I have autostream feathering props set up for left hand rotation. I leave my drives in reverse when the engine is not running. Previous experience has taught me that if the drives are in neutral and the prop collides with a pot warp the prop is knocked out of the feathered position and it starts rotating which wraps the warp around the prop quite quickly. With the drive in reverse the prop can only rotate about 60 degree and the warp drops off. I got through Maine and the Chesapeake this year without picking up one pot, but I digress. I use Rotella 15w40 oil in my drives, what do you use?

My concern would be that simply putting in a clutch kit might only have been treating the symptom not the cause of your problem. The clutch slippage might be by any number of issues such as a badly adjusted shifter or perhaps some other internal issue with the drive.

Hello Captain Bill,

Thanks for all your comments.
I've been using for the last 3 years, the G-Prop, an a feathering propeller, manufactured in Austria with real good performances.
I do use the regular engine oil as it with the Yanmar instructions and the drives are in reverse, when the engines are not in use.

I agree with you that after only 30 hours, when it's slipping the second time in the same SD, something is wrong….
Since the mechanic (A Yanmar authorized) how handle it first time told me that this happened in his words: "every one of ten", I'm very concerned, and now I'm trying to ask the Yanmar CS, to replace the SD with a new one, under the Yanmar warranty, since the oil now is full with contamination (second time) and easily can make damage the Gear bearings.

This means to do it out of the water… we'll see…
Thanks again,
Avi

[Avihoo]

Hello Captain Bill,

Thanks for all your comments.
I've been using for the last 3 years, the G-Prop, an a feathering propeller, manufactured in Austria with real good performances.
I do use the regular engine oil as it with the Yanmar instructions and the drives are in reverse, when the engines are not in use.

I agree with you that after only 30 hours, when it's slipping the second time in the same SD, something is wrong….
Since the mechanic (A Yanmar authorized) how handle it first time told me that this happened in his words: "every one of ten", I'm very concerned, and now I'm trying to ask the Yanmar CS, to replace the SD with a new one, under the Yanmar warranty, since the oil now is full with contamination (second time) and easily can make damage the Gear bearings.

This means to do it out of the water… we'll see…
Thanks again,
Avi

[Captain Bill]

Avihoo; There is a technical bulletin out on SD60's. If your shift lever on top of the drive is set up so that the cable comes in from the side, the bolt on the shift lever can touch the case of the drive and cause the clutch to not fully engage. This causes slippage and very fast wear on the clutch resulting in the symptoms you are experiencing. My shift cable comes in from the rear, thus I don't have the problem.

[Avihoo]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

Avihoo; There is a technical bulletin out on SD60's. If your shift lever on top of the drive is set up so that the cable comes in from the side, the bolt on the shift lever can touch the case of the drive and cause the clutch to not fully engage. This causes slippage and very fast wear on the clutch resulting in the symptoms you are experiencing. My shift cable comes in from the rear, thus I don't have the problem.

Dear Captain Bill, Thanks for your caring and sharing with your experience. I've just checked and the cables connecting to the 'gear arm' from the rear.

[YanmarSD60]

I own (2) Yanmar SD-60 saildrives on Beneteau Oceanis 45’ sailboats with about 350 hours on the SD-60 saildrives that have failed.

They were installed by the Beneteau USA Factory in May of 2016.

Yanmar last week (August 2017) has confirmed that the SD-60’s have a ram angle/ clutch plate problem…and must only be replaced with serial # 264271 or higher that has the correct redesigned ram clutch angle. (Yanmar has not sent out any Technical Bulletins about this as of August 27, 2017)

The problem presented itself after approximately 4 months of use….but only a few times. We thought it was the 3- blade folding props not opening right away… maybe fishing line on the prop??? After giving a lot of throttle, there would be ‘thud’ sound and go into gear. The noise sounded like it was coming from the prop. Due to our short summer, the boats are laid up ‘sleeping’ from mid-Oct to May. We inspected the props while the boats were on the hard over the winter and they were in perfect working order. The boats went back in the water in May of 2017 and the shifting noise slowly starting getting worse. Some days there were no issues while other days you had to give the engine high RPM’s to get the boat to move forward or in reverse. We were told Yanmar had no SD-60 shifting problems, so it must be the folding prop. We dove on the boats and checked the props again and they were perfect. We were also dealing with loose bolts on the shifter arm which would only let the transmission engage 25% to 40%.
Yanmar did recognize and sent out a Bulletin on July 4, 2017 all Distributors & Dealers.

Last week (August 2017) we contacted Yanmar direct and were told to remove the shift cable and move the shifter by hand. We did and the saildrive transmission would only engage at very high rpm’s and then slam into gear! When in gear, the saildrive will move the boat only in calm conditions, however, if going into a strong headwind or against a strong tide the saildrive transmission starts slipping! Clearly not a safe situation !

I see on the internet that other Beneteau 45’s customer and Yanmar SD-60 customers have been having the same problem for over a year.
I have been a once proud owner of many Beneteau sailboats over the past 30+ years. I would have appreciated being notified about the Yanmar problem from Beneteau and or Yanmar and would have the opportunity to replace the saildrives in the off season.


I have only been purchasing Beneteau / Jeanneau and Yanmar products for my sailboats over the past 30 years and would like to continue to do so. Given my long term relationship with Beneteau and Yanmar and the nature of the problem with the saildrives I would expect that any costs incurred to repair them will be covered under a know defect and be covered under warranty. Beneteau did not answer my email and Yanmar would not pay for the defective saildrives. I can only imagine what will happen to all those boat owners that have the known defective Yanmar SD-60 saildrives in them will the serial #'s below 264271 and want to sell or trade the boat in? Maybe its time to go back to the good old gearbox with a propeller shaft that worked forever???

[Captain Bill]

You don't say where you are located. My SD60s recently experienced this problem. Yanmar's first response was unfavorable, but they eventually came around with a lot of support on my side from the local dealer. Don't give up and send them a copy of your post. During the repair for mine I had the prop shaft seals replaced, but during the procedure grooves were found to be worn in the prop shaft by the seals. New prop shafts called for after only 1200 hours and that was engine time, not propeller time My genset went out and I had to use engines a lot to charge batteries last winter in the Bahamas. New prop shafts due to oil seal wear are nothing new to saildrive owners even though we don't like it. No problem on an sd60.. list price only $5746 each. No I didn't slip a decimal point. Propeller shafts are only available as part of the entire lower half of the drive. I paid less than that for the whole drives new (not counting installation). The mechanic is getting speedy sleeves for the shaft that will get me some more life, but........

I talked to Beta marine today........2 brand new Sea Prop 60s for less than the cost of 2 new propeller shafts from Yanmar.

[YanmarSD60]

Hello Captain Bill,
Rhode Island, US. Yanmar (August 2017) has confirmed that the SD-60’s have a RAM ANGLE/ clutch plate problem…and must only be replaced with serial # 264271 or higher that has the correct redesigned ram clutch angle. Best, Brian