Fall Adventure

[Boatsb]

Don't they just break off when you hit something and grow back. That's the only way I'd own one.

[SKYCHENEY]

Don't they just break off when you hit something and grow back. That's the only way I'd own one.

They are Volvo pods, not Volvo crab claws.

But I like the concept.

[dottieshusband]

Final answer... We're trucking her home! Billings really wants nothing to do with IPS drives (although a Volvo dealer).. turned out to be a failure of the upper planetary shaft bearing race. Now that I've seen one apart, they are pretty simple. Kinda like the differential on a car. Drive shaft connects to tranny input shaft and gear. Planetary shaft has upper and lower planetary gears (forward and reverse), upper and lower clutch packs, that look just like a motorcycle clutch disc pack. Hydraulic pressure presses the forward or reverse stack together. In our case, the upper bearing race gave up, allowing the planetary shaft to move away from the input shaft gear. Lower drive unit is full of metal..and the guys here are quite honest, they don't want to purchase the specialty tools to fix it, for 1 transmission... So, they want to replace it with a new one..21k, plus install. So trucking it home where our local Volvo guy says he can fix it..for much, much less..so it has really been a Fall Adventure!

[Boatsb]

So these pods are better because???????????

Id hate to own such a problematic device. Has anyone started a class action suit against Volvo yet?

[dottieshusband]

In 2010, they did a major upgrade to the drives (this is a 2009). When rebuilt, they upgrade them. You're right, Volvo hosed a bunch of folks... The lower unit, is just like any other duoprop outdrive. The planetary shaft is splined on the bottom end, and slides into the splined female final drive unit. In between, there is a pinion rack and electronic steering actuator... Anybody that buys one of these, new or old series is a whack job... 1200 hour, 22k$ service interval.

[dottieshusband]

Cat is making some big announcement about their pod drive system today.

[saltshaker]

Pods have a lot of benefits but the poor build and constant failures of the Volvo units eclipses any benefit. The bigger units seem to be more reliable and the Zeus pods also seem pretty good but they are much heavier, more expensive and use bigger engines so most manufacturers are going for he smaller cheaper Volvo’s.

[doc g]

"Two passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour, a three hour tour.....,,,,"

[Boatsb]

How expensive is it to truck it back?

Did you use Miami cradle or waste management?

Sorry I can't resist.

[dottieshusband]

Looking at $3 bucks per round trip mile, plus a few grand in accessorials for loading, permits, etc. Another 5k or so to drop and crate the pods.. still dickering on price.