Volvo Penta MS2A-E Transmission - Help!

[Ricky]

I have a Volvo Penta TMD22A coupled to a MS2A-E reverse gear transmission installed in my boat.

My question is this .... Does this setup drive a clockwise or anti-clockwise prop?
The reason I ask is that I have an anti-clockwise prop fitted and I keep running the top bearing (which is the one used for forward ).
The bottom bearing which is constantly immersed in oil carries the gear for reverse and does not get too hot.
Me and my mechanic were under the impression that the direction of rotation of the engine should also be the direction of the gearbox output and that this would then be forward gear - hence the setup above.

Please help - I am stuck in Mexico until I can solve this one!!

[MidLandOne]

We have a MS2A-E reverse gear. In our case the engine rotates clockwise (looking at front) and prop is right handed (rotates clockwise looking from rear) so box reverses the shaft rotation. Looking at the exploded diagram of the box I believe that means that in our case the lower gear of the gear set that engage the output gear is the forward driving one (if I have done the mental gymnastics correctly ).

It should be easy enough to check for sure if the shaft rotation is reversed by manually barring the engine over clockwise (I use a socket on the front pulley nut) with the box in gear and observing the box output side rotation - assuming one is at the boat and I am assuming that the clutch is engaged even at slow rotation (am pretty sure it is).

It sounds as if your box is set up the opposite way around to ours ie yours uses the gear ours uses for reverse (the top one), for forward? I don't know about the MS2A but my understanding is that some of the other MS2 boxes can be run with either left hand or right hand props. It would seem sensible though that the lower gear be set up as the forward one (ie a right handed prop) as it and its bearings are likely to be the better lubricated and cooled but I don't really know how important that is for component life in this box.

[Ricky]

Hey Midlandone, thanks for this.
The MS2A-E has no marking on it to indicate whether up or down on the shift lever is forward or reverse. I happened to have a left handed prop on the boat when I bought it. We installed the engine and gearbox and set it up such that we got forward on the throttle shift. This just meant that we were using the top gear for forward. Seeing your reply now convinces me further that it should be the bottom gear (better lubricated and supported with bearings) hence a right handed prop is what I need.
Any boat will spend 99% of its engine time in forward. 1% in reverse and even then, this will generally just be to manouverer at the dock on idle or very short bursts of power.

Anyone else have any thoughts???? (we are running out of bearings in Mexico!!!)