Zeus podos - maintenance

JamesT said:
I think it's pretty simple. Remove the two carrier bolts and pull out the shaft. I'm not 100% sure though.
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Yes, it's pretty simple. You remove the two carrier bolts (top and bottom), then use a puller to slide the carrier out. I rigged a puller using a gear puller, some short links of chain, and two hooks that were cut off from some 1" ratchet straps. They sell a special tool to do this (8M0037236) for $210.

Zach312 said:
How can this seal be accessed?
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Once you have the carrier out, you then remove the outer shaft... it just slides off the inner shaft. There are two seals, one being located in the end of the carrier, the other one at the end of the outer shaft. You can tap the old ones out or get special tools to drive them out with a press. Once you have the fluid all drained, pulling the carrier is really not much more work.

I think it's the larger of the seals that takes the real "beating". First, it has to seal around a 2.5" shaft so there's a lot of surface area. Secondly, and what I think might be a bigger issue, is that this seal is surrounded by exhaust gasses as they exit the pod. When I removed the old seal, I was amazed at how hard the actual rubber was. Much harder than the smaller seal and much harder than the new seals. If you think about a 480HP motor at 80%, it's blowing about 500,000 BTUs past that seal every hour. I'd love to see some actual temperature readings of what it's like in that area under cruise. (btw, the Volvo pods exit the exhaust on the backside, well away from the seals.)

You can push the new seals in with a hydraulic press, but I made a jig so we could just do them at the boat, rather than having to bring the parts back to the shop. You can use the old seal to protect the new seal as you push it in. The service manual also calls for high strength (red) threadlock around the seals when you press them in.


zeus_seal.jpg
 
JamesT said:
Zach, Google "Zeus Pod Maintenance Interval Schedule" and you can download the PDF. However, I would also recommend speaking directly to your local Cummins technicians to compare what the manual says against their experience. To answer your question pod technicians are few and far between. Don't assume any authorized Cummins dealer works on them. The guy who does all the Cummins work on my and my friends boats won't touch pods at all. Call Cummins to found out who the experts are in your area. Hopefully you'll never need one.

There really is very little maintenance to be done. There are 3 fluids in pods. 1) Gear lube needs to be changed every year or every 250 hours and I do mine more frequently than that (twice per year). Any boatyard can do this since it's as easy as doing any mercury outdrive. Always ask them to take a picture of the drained fluid so you can check for milky-ness. If milky, you must call Cummins directly to reseal your pod, as I had to do at around 600 hours on my starboard. I was told by Cummins that most of the time it's the propshaft seal that begins to leak, but he replaced all my seals because there was no way for him to guarantee it wasn't another. That was 2 years ago. Next week I'm having the same tech re-seal my other pod, just as a precaution. I'm at 910 hours now. 2) Transmission fluid every 250 hours. In reality I believe this can be stretched longer. I observed this fluid being replaced last summer and the fluid coming out looked as perfect as the fluid going in. 3) Steering and trim fluid. This is the same "hydraulic power steering fluid" as the transmission fluid above. Manual says to replace this only if you get an alarm that says it's dirty.

The rest of the suggested maintenance is just checking hoses, clamps, bolts, and tightness of everything. I had a bolt that came loose on my power steering system and blew the oil all over the place in the ER so definitely check everything you can put a wrench on.

The manual doesn't mention gear oil cooler in the service manual, but my Cummins tech told me I do have two and that it needs to be serviced. He's coming next week to do that, so I'll try to get clarification from him on why it's not in the manual.

In closing I'll say that as long as you can confirm with Cummins that there is at least one Cummins pod expert technician within 90 miles of you, I would not worry about owning a pod boat. I've put much more maintenance dollars into my engines than I have my pods.

Jim
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Thanks for the post Zach, I just bought a 2012 Sundancer 47 with 480's. I am in the West Michigan market and I am having a very hard time finding someone to work on them. Do you think i would call Cummins or Mercury to find help with this? Thx
 
KM1125 when you reinstall the carrier does the two bolts get torque down and if so do you know what the torque setting is.
 
Spark600 said:
KM1125 when you reinstall the carrier does the two bolts get torque down and if so do you know what the torque setting is.
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Yes. Use Loctite #242 on the bolts and torque to 45 lbft
 
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