OK.
So the Go Devil has been a pain in my ass since I got it. 5 trips out and three times it has broken.

First run, would not crank, battery weak due to long cranking to get started.
Second run, OK no troubles.
Third run fired engine before leaving home, once in water it spun for 30 seconds and battery was dead.
(Between 3rd+4th) Fixed trouble by replacing starter with a new unit and then cleaning the magnet on the flywheel and the magneto. Found the magneto waaaaaaaaaaaay out of adjustment and adjusted it correctly. Engine now starts in one revolution without issue.
4th run, ran perfect.
Fifth run, ran fine then felt like it lost power, like I was choking on weeds. I leaned on the stick to pop it from the water and clear the weeds and it shut off and stopped in an instant. I about fell forward when it happened.
Hit the starter and it was locked up tight. Though I had locked the briggs 18 up......Buddy was on the lake and came to tow me to another friends house on the lake. Got a ride back to the boat ramp to get my truck and trailer. Got back and got the boat out of the water so we could look at it. Disconnected the shaft from the U-joint by taking the set screws out. Once I backed them out the shaft slid down and everything unlocked. Went to prop end and found the nut/cap that holds the seals had backed off and wedged between the prop and the tail housing of the GD. Smacked the prop a couple times to slide the shaft apart from the Ujoint and everything freed up. Engine spins over, everything is happy...........sort of.

Took the key out and then slid the shaft out with the prop still on it. Shaft has some wear in the bearing areas, but has big gouges on the center of the shaft. Looks like a past goof that someone changed the grease fitting and burried it into the shaft causing a nasty grove. There is also grooves down the shaft, like a piece of the zerk broke off and traveled down towards the prop.

Now the trouble comes in the end of the GD housing, where the cap goes on. The threads are butchered there pretty bad but are pipe threads so I think I can get into good threads with a new cap. The guy that I towed it to suggested drilling a set-screw hole in the cap and plopping a set screw in to keep this from happening again, along with replacing the cap.

So, anyone know the about cost of a new shaft, bearings, and seals/cap(s) from Go Devil? Starting to grow tired of this thing

About 500$dollars , if you do it yourself , go devil rill send you tools and you will receive some of that back from deposit of tools. .

After reading the manual, my bushings may be OK and the groove in the shaft is normal as what the manual says (from the grease fitting). I may just buy a new shaft and stuff it in the old bushings (they don't look bad but need a good shaft to check the play). The previous owner *may* have replaced the bushings but I was thinking about just doing them and not having to worry. They are just dumb bronze bushings and thus may run for a while as they are.

I did mine just last week , seals , bushings , shaft , harder than I thought with an older used longtail , likewise I am not to sure how much maintenance the previous owner did. Go devil will ship you "their" loaner tools to split and remove old bushings , you'll get about 190$ refund when you ship their tools back. If you have play in your shaft at the prop , I recommend just changing everything ,I did so I knew what exactly I have and for peace of mind . About two hour turn around is what it took me.

I did not have much play at all, that is part of why I bought it as I was advised to check for play when I was looking at it. The shaft has wear but I think the busings may be new and the PO replaced them but did not tighten the lower seal housing enough, allowing it to come loose. Mine also does not have a jam nut behind the prop like the GD exploded view shows, so I think parts are missing from down around the prop.

Did you upgrade to the new system with the bushing in the middle of the shaft and upper roller?

1st off...the lower housing should've already had a set screw with loctite in it.

2nd...the parts shouldn't be 500 bucks worth

3rd...you don't need any loaner tools

4th...older models are way more simple to work on

OP, read the owners manual, available on the GD site, it will tell you how to do it with tools you should already have. It's not the motor, it's the idiot that worked on it before you.

Ok , I upgraded a Pre 2000 to modern , it is around 500 bucks , new bushings , shaft , upper and lower new everything added pressure lubricator , true you don't need their tools . But go devil has the tools they designed to do the job easy(bushings puller) When you finish your swap , you send tools back . They refund 190$ of your 500$ . The 500$ included shipping , call go devil they will quote you similar

H Finn

The upgrade has the new roller bearing for the top?

Yes

Next question, is there an advantage to the upgrade?

I did the upgrade on the last GD I had after I shattered a shaft and lost shaft and prop in the lake, about 2 1/2 miles from the boat ramp. That was a long paddle, but at least the wind was to my back...
My son had been using the LT bowfishing, with the agreement that he would keep up with maintenance checks - long story short, he didn't - and I didn't check it before I took it out.. After about an hour I happened to notice the upper bushing area smoking, just about the same time I clipped a stump - shaft shattered right at the upper bushing, U joint beat the crap out of the engine mount before I could get it shut down.
Result of the repairs - he doesn't "borrow" my stuff anymore... Lesson learned, if you want something done right, do it yourself...

My current LT (homebuilt based on GD), got an upgrade to a roller bearing upper as soon as I got it - haven't had a bit of troubles, but, I keep it greased...

If you can avoid it find the parts at a local place and avoid going through GD, you will save yourself some dough.

Ordered the parts from Go Devil and it was around $150 shipped for a new shaft, seals, lower seal housing and new nuts for the prop. I'm going to run with the old bushings as they don't look to bad and loose bushings are better than tight ones
The shafts are $60 incase anyone is wanting to know.

Anybody know the size of the pipe that is part of the gd frame? I forgot to messier it, think it is 1" but would rather be certain. I want to stop after work at a hardware store and buy a die for the threads without driving home to measure it first.

Hope you get your troubles resolved. I will say, that compared to my one and only conventional outboard, or the shortail motors that friends have had to repair- our longtail motor repairs are substantially cheaper, the motors are more economical to own and operate and in my experience, more reliable. That said, if you need to push big loads and cross long distanes, big water, etc., the SD's are the ticket. Just glad I don't need one.

Crawler, where are you located? I have the die nut you need

Sorry, did not check in to see the reply.
I got one, took some work but I have threads now.

Bought a pipe threading kit from Harbor Freight for $29.99 minus a 20% off coupon......$24.
Finally got to it tonight and figured out the pipe die is aimed with the guide towards the side I need it not to be aimed. Thought of flipping the blades so I did and then figured out they were angled corectly but backwards with the cutter and would never work. Flipped em back and pondered......

Got out my trusty sawzall and lopped off the guide end of the die. Cut the needed material from the skeg and then filed the weld smooth, where I have removed perhaps 1/2" of skeg. Slipped the die on, used a pair of channel locks with some oil on the threads and cut-cut-cut......now I have good threads. I installed the new grease seal cap and tightened the nuts out of it, marked a nifty spot for the set screw and removed it. Tomorrow I will use a drill press to pop hole in the grease cap so that I can thread it in preps for the set-screw I am adding. This ain't gonna happen again I'l get pics of everything when I do it tomorrow, Iphone is dead and it is too dark to charge it then take pics. BTW, I am in Central Florida. Was a Crawler Transporter Mechanic during the shuttle program, hence the username.

In case you need some reliable help, try Lamarr Cox in Melbourne.