Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Friend of mine just had to replace his lower unit because a wad of line cut up the seal and he lost his gear lube. Found this interesting tip while researching info on such for my teardropbass.com website blog.

"Here's a shade-tree way to give your gearcase a quick check. With the boat on the trailer and outboard in neutral, give the prop a spin. The high-viscosity lube in the outboard gearcase should arrest the motion of the prop quickly. If the prop spins free, however, the lube could be diluted with water. I know an aspiring bass angler who has made it a habit to spin his boat's prop every time he walks past the back end of the boat, and he knows just how it should spin when the lube is OK. He claims to have discovered water in the case twice using this method." If you would like to read the whole article on this subject here is the boats.com link.
http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2007/08/outboard-expert-propshaft-line-removal/"> Boat.Com  link.

I do this 'test' every time I put my boat back on the trailer after losing all my lube one season (long ago), followed quickly thereafter by the gears as I ran across Muskegon Lake just before a fishoff :o