The adage about twin disc gears and marine transmissions is that you only appreciate them once they fail. This vital link between your craft’s marine propulsion system and engine operates behind the scenes and only serves a few critical duties. These include enabling a vessel to reverse gears and setting the ratio between the propeller and the engine.
But when twin disc gears fail, they can immobilize your operation, impacting your customer retention and bottom line. Here are some steps you can take to extend the life of your twin disc gears:
- Fluid Maintenance for Twin Disc Gears
Keeping your twin disc gears cool is critical to making sure they’re up and operating as you need them at all times. If you know when to flush and change transmission fluid, what kind of fluid to use and how much to use, then you’ll have mastered more than half of marine transmission upkeep. If you buy a new transmission, you should have a sales rep or consultant who can walk you through the process and educate your operations team. For rebuilt twin disc gears, again, the seller should be able to provide all pertinent details. If not, call into the manufacturer, a credible third-party technician, or even a search engine query should get you headed down the right path. Carefully following the prescribed regimen – and adjusting accordingly as your marine transmission racks up the miles – is the No. 1 job you can perform to extend the life of the equipment. - Troubleshooting Shifting Problems
Your craft has a clean history, runs smooth, is up to date with all regular maintenance, and then one day – whammy – your vessel shifts and shimmies unevenly or fails to shift into gear at all. As is common with most proactive diagnoses, not addressing the issue can damage not just your twin disc gear, but other critical parts and equipment. Before you panic, check your oil pressure and top off the levels if needed. If transmission oil appears to be fine, the issue could be what’s called shift linkage; remedying this requires a quick inspection of equipment. Other common transmission problems include bad drive plates or a malfunctioning oil cooler.
With regular upkeep and maintenance of your twin disc gears, major repairs and replacements are not that common. The key is to know the proper maintenance protocol and to act on any off shimmy or shaking you get while shifting sooner than later.
