Love my new Acme Prop

[sailtl]

You will burn a  more gas with the 542 than the 540 but the hole shot of the 542 is fantastic. You only need 1/2 throttle for a slalom skier. I am sticking with the 540. The 540 prop does it all for me. I would suggest you use the 540 first and if you want more hole shot send it back and get the 542. Now remember these are for a 1" shaft and RH prop (boat backs left). But just call Acme with your shaft size and rotation and give them the dimensions as listed in the testing and they will fix you up. Remember to check your gear ratio also before you call.

[ScarabEpic22]

Thanks man, now to convince the pops we NEED the 540 haha.  He's interested, but I just hope I can convince him its what we need.

Sounds like the 540 is the all around prop for you, hope it is for me even though Im a foot bigger.  Do you know how much the 540 set you back?

[ScarabEpic22]

Can we not edit posts on this forum??

And it looks like the LH version of the 540 is the 541 and the 542 is 543.  From Acme's website.

[sailtl]

Acme 540 prop 13.00x12VR3B 1.00 shaft .080 cup set me back $395.00 plus freight. This is purchasing from Acme direct. You may be able to find it for less $'s but the support from Acme was superior.

[ScarabEpic22]

400 bucks is ok, and Ill think of it as buying a spare prop (well the stocker will be the spare, but you know what I mean).  Thanks for all the help man, Ive never pulled a prop before but Ive got a close friend that has a 97 MC and he's done a few prop swaps on it.

[ScarabEpic22]

Holy dead thread I know, but Im planning on ordering a 541 TODAY.  Finally convinced mom we need this thing and that Dad wont do anything about it (heck out Scarab has the original stainless prop from 87...).

So my plan is to call Acme and confirm everything about the 541, 99.99% sure its what I want but want to check with the source.  Also going to buy a prop puller, was looking at the kits but $160 for a kit is expensive for something I plan on using once.  $65 for a prop puller is better, still expensive but better.

Do I need a new nut or key too?  Probably going to pick up another cotter pin because they're cheap insurance.  Any other advice?  Never done this before, is is really just as easy as remove cotter pin, loosen nut (not remove yet), pop prop free with a proper puller, remove nut then prop and key.  Replace key into new prop, put prop back onto shaft, tighten nut, install cotter pin?

[nortwr99]

It is that easy. I did not even need the prop puller.  i was able to just tap the back of the prop with a hammer and it  came off.  The only thing you need to pay attention to is the placement of the key.  Make sure the new prop pushed as far back on the shaft as the old prop, to make sure the key is in correctly.  You can mark the shaft with tape.  Definitely need a new coder pin the old nut should be just fine.

[ScarabEpic22]

Thanks, Ill pick up a prop puller from West Marine and see if I can get away not using it (or borrowing a friends for an hour).  If I have to use it so be it, but Ive got a rubber mallet that would be perfect so I dont mess up the old prop (going to be a spare now).

About to call Acme now and see how long it'd take to get to me, if not Im heading to Tacoma probably because theres a shop that has them in stock.

[FreeLance]

Scarab, I am in North Seattle, you can burrow my harmonic puller as a just in case if you like.  Masonlk vouched for you at the epic roundup we had a couple of years ago so no need for you to go buy a new one as I trust mine will make its way back to me.    

When I put my Acme on I was glad I had it, there was no way it was coming off with a few taps on the back of the prop.

[ScarabEpic22]

OK guys, bought an Acme 541 prop and LOVE IT!  Think I might have been better with the 543 strictly for even more holeshot and to lose some top end, heck this new Acme buried the tach at 6000rpms with 3 of us onboard (full fuel, just essential gear like extinguisher etc).  And yes I left the battery disconnected to let the ECM reset itself a little before I put it in the water.  Borrowed my friends OJ prop puller who lives in Idaho near me, the pin on the end was almost nonexistent but another friend and I made it work.

Slalom speed seems lower than before, used to run 41-4200rpms and now its 40-4100 (but that could just be skiier preference etc).  Hole shot, if the old stock OJ was about a 3 this 541 Acme's a solid 7-8, have an inkling the 543 would be a 9/10.  But hey, its way better than before so Im just happy my parents broke down for it.  Tubing is much better now too, can really rip them outta the water with 2 solo tubes and 7 onboard with light gear and full gas, before it would take forever to get out.

Where I really noticed the hole shot was when I was skiing.  First time out I was towing some buddies and getting used to the new throttle response and speeds and thought it was only slightly better than stock.  When I hopped in and got yanked out, felt like there was a little more torque behind our little 4L V8 than before, and I practically few out of the water.  Way better then my buddies 98 Nautique with a 4 blade something and a PCM 5.7L V8 but it still doesnt have the vicious thrust of my friends 97 MC Prostar 205 with the 5.7L LT1 V8 (~330ish hp and 360+tq in a smaller boat).

All in all, if anyone uses your boat more than once a year you NEED one of these props.  Like Im not saying need to sell Acme's product, I could honestly care less.  But IT WORKS which is the most important thing.  For an all around prop that I will used mostly for cruising and tubing and the occasional ski/board, this prop is 100x better than the stock 3 blade.  Ill get a photo up here eventually showing the surface area difference, its crazy!


Tip- If your prop is the original one, use a short stick of hardwood and brace one of the prop blades to the trailer so you turn the prop puller not the shaft.  Once you have it tight, whack a few times, back off and retighten.  Repeat a few times, but this is what finally did it for us: With the brace wood in, him turning the prop puller, I gently wacked the backside of the prop puller with a hammer a few times, broke free like a charm.  This was after 1.5hrs of us being on the gravel cursing.

[rstangel]

I have a Epic 2001 X22 and I pull alot of Barefooters but could never get the true speed needed to maintain 42 mph when
cornering and a few years ago I damaged the stock 4 blade prop. I have read your comments about the Acme props and
called Acme and sent me a 3 blade prop to find WOW---I have a new boat now! GPS out to be 48 mph and will maintain 45mph in the corners. I had talked with Toyota early on when I purchased this boat to find they told me that is all you can
expect from this boat. I was wondering if the Acme props that you are talking of are 3 or 4 blade props?? One thing that I notice is that 3 blade prop is louder than the 4 blade stock prop. I would purchase a 4 blade Acme prop if I could get the same speed out of it  and then have the true quiet through the speed range.

[breakawaydaze]

What 3 blade acme prop do you have?

[ScarabEpic22]

Dead thread I know, but it has a lot of good info so no reason to start a new thread.

All the props talked about in the last ~1.5yrs are 3 blades, honestly there's no need to buy a 4 blade with the holeshot the CNC'ed 3 blades have due to their massive surface area.

I have a few pics of this on my phone, but cant find my micro-SD to regular SD card adapter so I have no way of getting them off my phone.  I would venture the Acme 541 I purchased has roughly 20-25% more surface area than the original 3 blade OJ that came off.  Its massive showing them side-by-side.

[ATXChris]

After hitting something in lake austin at night I picked up some vibration in the drivetrain so decided to replace the prop and do an engine alignment.  Here's some pics of my new Acme 540 along with the stock 4 blade OJ.

[HCollado]

Is the three blade the old prop???   

Looks better than the 4 blade/