Ford Lehman Hours,,Questions

Greetings, We are looking at a 1989 43 Albin sundeck, with 2 ford lehman 135 H.P.,Naturally aspirated, they have 6730 hours,,one owner for the past 20 years,,, he has records, for maintenance,,,oil has been changed and filters ever 150 hours,are these motors cost effective, to do maintenance and repairs on?and how easy are parts too get.No teak decks,,The other concern is the steel fuel tanks,and leaking ,,no leaks yet,, but it seems costly to repair,,if and when,,ANY advice would be VERY helpful,,,Thanks in advance,,
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My tidbit is unless you know when the damper plates between the engine and transmission were last changed, say less than 3000 hours.....have them looked at.

It can be a difficult job....pulling the transmission off, but mine just came apart and is a engine stopper (cold)....and Internet research has shown it more common than one might think....plus it is one of the only things that stops a Lehman cold, can give few or no warning signs

Better to get it done at a convenient time than on the road.

Overall, my rebuilt Lehman, 2 years prior to my purchase has run flawlessly for the last 5 years, more than 5 round rips to FL and back for nearly 15,000 miles.

The overall build quality of the Albin left me wondering, but probably as good as many TT trawlers....certainly any lack of good maintenance shows up fast on at least my year and model.

I would not be concern about the engine hours, but the maintenance. with average 7 knots, it will come up around 49,000 miles. For e diesel, is barely "break in" engine. The steal tanks would be my concern, but in my previous boat 1974 MT, I had original steal tanks and were not leaking.

Your engine should be fine with 6700 hours. Parts are still readily available and relatively cheap as compared to other marine engines. A heat exchanger is less than $700 and the oil/transmission coolers are less than $150 each. The tanks are a wild card but if the tops are rust free and there isn't any water under them you could be good for a while. We replaced our tanks last fall. One leaked because of a less than perfect installation but it still lasted 29 years. We rebuilt the engine when we replaced the tanks only because we needed to remove the engine to put the new tanks in. We had ~8400 hours on the engine and it ran great. The FL SP135 are good engines IMHO.


http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s32/krogen-42-fuel-tank-replacement-28204.html

blackbird said:

Greetings, We are looking at a 1989 43 Albin sundeck, with 2 ford lehman 135 H.P.,Naturally aspirated, they have 6730 hours,,one owner for the past 20 years,,, he has records, for maintenance,,,oil has been changed and filters ever 150 hours,are these motors cost effective, to do maintenance and repairs on?and how easy are parts too get.No teak decks,,The other concern is the steel fuel tanks,and leaking ,,no leaks yet,, but it seems costly to repair,,if and when,,ANY advice would be VERY helpful,,,Thanks in advance,,
,

Click to expand...

Depending on who calls what model what, I have either exactly the same boat and engines or almost exactly the same one, the only difference is mine is an 87. The engines are rock solid and good for many more than 7000 hrs if maintained properly (which is easy on those). They are easy to work on and parts are easy to get. The typical Borg Warner Velvet drive transmissions Installed on these are good for approximately 5000hrs then they need a rebuild (the port one is usually the first to need a rebuild due to the addition of an extra gear set to obtain opposite rotation) and the damper plates should be replaced at the same time. The fuel tanks are usually "ok" on these. The first place to start rusting is the forward upper outside corners due to moisture or water coming in from the engine room vents which are above that area. Mine are, but they are thickly made and not leaking. So a modest amount of rust is not the end of the world. I cleaned up the rusted areas and heavily coated them with Fluid Film. No teak is awesome. I understand that some examples are better built than others. I have been through every inch of my boat and I'm extremely pleased with the robust quality of the build. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Ken

This is the source for all things Lehman!!

Call and talk with Brian if you are buying a Lehman they are experts!

http://americandieselcorp.com/