I just came across this site. Looks great. I noticed a thread from a couple of months ago about Dana drives. I have a 69 Nautaline 34 with a 318 and Drive-90. I replaced the clutch two summers ago and everything worked great until I got a newer boat and stopped using the Nautaline as much as before. The earlier post on this site about sticking clutch plates sounds like what I might be encountering now. How do I get it unstuck? Thanks.

John, keep working with it and it should unstick, it has corroded due to lack of use. Since it is almost new it should brake loose. Glad to have you on this board as well as the other. Have a good day.

Pirate Good to chat again. Any ideas on how to get it unstuck? Will I need to pull the engine, will just taking the boat out and running it break it loose, or what? Thanks again. J

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CLUTCH IS RELEASING. (HAVE SOMEONE OPERATE THE SHIFT AND OBSERVE THE CLUTCH LEVER TO MAKE SURE IT IS OPERATING.)

ASSUMING IT IS YOU CAN UNHOOK THE SHIFT CABLE AT THE OUTDRIVE LEAVING THE UNIT IN FOREWARD. THEN WORK THE SHIFT BACK AND FORTH A FEW TIMES TO TRY AND BREAK IT LOOSE. THIS IS A DANGEROUS PROCEDURE SO BE WHERE YOU HAVE A LOT OF SPACE AND HAVE NO ONE ELSE AROUND. THEY WILL NOT NORMALLY BREAK LOOSE WITHOUT THIS PROCEDURE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT UNDER ANY LOAD.

USUALLY YOU HAVE TO MOVE THE MOTOR FOREWARD SO CAN REMOVE THE CLUTCH AND FREE EVERYTHING UP. MAKE SURE YOU LUBRICATE THE SPLINES WHEN YOU PUT IT BACK TOGETHER, USE MOLY GREASE.

Old Houseboater: Thanks for the advice. I think it broke loose yesterday when I took the boat out and ran it a few miles. Shifting is working much better anyway. As I recall, I did not put moly grease on the shaft splines when I put the new clutch in summer before last. At any rate, lessson learned: A boat sure can go to hell in a hurry if it's not used regularly!