Adapting wrongly purchased prop

[totallydave]

I know that headline may sound scary / stupid idea but hear me out...

Last year I bought (from a fellow Ribnetter) an unused 2016 4 blade Solas prop for my 2004 Honda BF90A. I only got round to trying it on now...

To cut a long story short (a story with several conversations with Solas), it turns out that pre Oct 2015, they only had one model which suited Mercury and Honda. Then they made a slight modification and sold 2 separate models. Turns out mine is post that change and is the Mercury version.

The key change is that they added an outer rim to the engine side of the casting on the mercury version and the inner dia of that rim is ~57mm. My standard Honda Thrust washer is 60mm OD, so it sits on that rim rather than inside it. That's not good for distributing load but it also means that I loose approx 3mm of shaft length and therefore can't get a cotter pin through the hole!

So, I figure I have 3 options:

1. Sell the prop and buy the right version
2. Get the rim removed (get it milled off)
3. Find a slightly smaller Thrust Washer which fits inside the rim

I guess option 1 is the easiest, but I've been trying to solve this for a week or so and it feels a bit like giving up, so I'd like to hear other's thoughts on the other 2 options - especially if anyone knows of a smaller Thrust Washer (perhaps for the next size down engine).

[breezeblock]

machine the thrust washer to fit inside would be the first thing I would do props can be a bugger to hold in the chuck off a lathe and not that easy to true up with an indicator depending on the style the thrust is the easy one and less expensive if it goes Pete tong

[charliee]

with no experience to base this on, I would be tempted to try the prop with a smaller thrust washer and see how it performed. If it was good then you can at least consider ruling out selling it. After that maybe Solas can comment on milling the rim.
At least you've asked your question in a space that should ensure an accurate opinion!

[totallydave]

Originally Posted by breezeblock

machine the thrust washer to fit inside would be the first thing I would do props can be a bugger to hold in the chuck off a lathe and not that easy to true up with an indicator depending on the style the thrust is the easy one and less expensive if it goes Pete tong

Good idea - there even an identical washer on ebay quite cheap at the moment, so I could buy that and get it machined down. Assuming I can find someone to do that (don't have a lathe myself).

[jwalker]

Send the thrust washer to me in a jiffy bag, tell me what O/D you want and I'll skim it down for you and return it. You'll need to be quick though, I'm off cruising next Thursday. PM me for an address.

[jwalker]

Thrust washer is on its way back to you... o/d54.8.

[totallydave]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Thrust washer is on its way back to you... o/d54.8.

Thanks buddy - much appreciated. If you PM me an email address, I will send you an amazon voucher (or something?) for your time.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by totallydave

Thanks buddy - much appreciated. If you PM me an email address, I will send you an amazon voucher (or something?) for your time.

No problem. Drop something into the RNLI box next time you come across one.

[totallydave]

Originally Posted by jwalker

No problem. Drop something into the RNLI box next time you come across one.

Good shout - already a member but will make a point to drop something extra in :-)