Help ..seized gimbal bearing

[intrepidvoyager]

SX drive which won't come off ..rust on the drive shaft .....fortunately the engine is not in the boat ...however no amount of penetrating oil shot into the bearing past the seal from inside the boat or pulling the leg with a truck or pounding on the drive shaft will budge it more than 1/4 inch. ........SO what I am thinking now is to get a one foot length of steel pipe that will fit over the drive shaft and a massive sledge and try to pound the gimbal bearing out ...So my question is what diameter should the pipe be either inside or outside ..... inside I guess is just larger than the drive shaft diameter but might be better to try to hit the outside ring of the bearing but cant see past the seal ....So am wondering if anyone has done this before. Don't want to damage the gimbal housing assembly. Corrosion is a massive problem here in Hawaii......

Thanks

 

[mslater]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

Have you tried putting a 2x4 between the outdrive and bell housing then trimming up till it pops off. Mine was stuck also but popped right off using this method.

 

[flyer4ever]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

A pipe with a 1.1/4 ID will fit over the drive shaft and contact the inner ring of the gimble bearing. This will allow you to push against the inner race. However in looking at this very carefully, the drive shaft will be takeing a lot of shock and transfering it to the gears in the upper gear housing. So may not be the best idea. I'm sure there are some other ideas out there. Wish I could be more help.

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

hey ..great idea mslater ...why didn't I think of using the rams ..grrrrr!

the engine/bell housing is out ...BUT ...we have a 1/4 inch crack all the way round the top of the gear housing so we will fill that up with steel shims and see if we can pop the lower part forward a bit with the rams ...maybe just the force of the rams and a good bang on the drive shaft with a big sledge will do it ......I'll post the results tonight ..... many thanks !!!!...

The friend of mine who owns the boat fessed up that the last time the engine was out it was not aligned so this and the fact the leg has not been off for SEVEN years #$%@&$@ plus he did not know there was a grease fitting for the gimble bearing blah blah blah has created this mess.

I am actually amazed he did not chew up his coupler or worse.

as an aside he fishes off the north coast of Kauai ...can fight a 250 lb tuna for hours.....his reels are the size of oil cans ...$1500 a shot ...sometimes he'll spool out so he hooks the reel to another line and chucks the reel and rod overboard .......pretty crazy stuff.

his boss who's honda 90's I worked on went out for 3 days last year after a Hawaiian shark hunting cerimony and hunted down and killed the 14 ft shark that bit the arm off a local surfer girl ......these guys are something else ....ah well makes life interesting ...

 

[mslater]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

I was amazed how easily the rams pushed mine off, the gimbal bearing came out with the out drive. I used a side grinder to cut the old bearing off. Once you get to the inner race thats frozen to the shaft cut it slowly ALMOST to the drive yolk then tap it till the race cracks the rest of the way. Good luck!

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

no go with the rams ...we have a 2x4 wedged between the gimbal ring and the gimbal housing ...I spoke to the local Volvo guy and he said to much force can bust the edge of the gimbal housing either using the rams or pulling on the lower unit with a comealong ...... we have about 500 lbs of pulling force on it right now..........so on his advise we have hooked up a hose on a sleeve pounded through the old seal to get penetrating oil to flood the entire gimble bearing area ...also he said that banging on the drive shaft is not a problem ...just don't damage the splines ..... if the shaft is as severly rusted as we suspect it will have to be replaced anyway.

We'll pick up a bigger sledge tomorrow and have another go ....also will try the 1 1/4 id pipe as mentioned by flyer.

Basically the Volvo guy says keep feeding penetrating oil and eventual it will bang off ........ of course he's never tried to get one off thats been rusted on for seven years.

 

[flyer4ever]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

Please let us know how you make out.

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

OK .....think we finally figured it out ....... the drive shaft is stuck in the gimble bearing and the lower port stud is siezed to the upper gear housing , thats one of the 6 ...three on each side ...

This was hard to figure with the leg in place as this is a custom fish boat and the leg is recessed between two large built in bait tanks ....

After pulling and banging we decided the best thing to do to avoid the risk of damaging something was to take the entire outdrive off the boat ....so took the inner transom plate off and removed the leg ..... we were then able to release the spider in the universal by pushing the bellows aside ...tricky but can be done...after 1200 hrs good idea to change anyway .... so we then confirmed driveshaft stuck in gimbal bearing .

With the drive off and on its side we confirmed that the previously mention stud was siezed by pouring penetrating oil (PO) into the stud/nut cavity ....none went past the stud thru the hole in the gear housing so we new we had found the second problem. So we have left the cavity filled with PO and will have another go at it tomorrow..

In the meantime my friend is not happy cause he had the boat at the local Volvo guy, before I got involved, to sling his new engine in and in atempt to get the drive off the guy was lifting it and dropping it and cracked the housing below the exhaust bellows #%&^@%&$ !!!!!

I'd be interested in any suggestions re penetrating oil ..... I use a brand that is made in Vancover and not available here in Hawaii.

Right now we are using Gunk liquid wrench ..

Thanks

 

[fuzzybob]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

Might try mixing up some ATF and acitone. Good luck on your project!!

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

THanx Fuzzy.......we'll try that tomorrow ...let you know !

 

[mslater]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

Kano Kroil Oil is great! PB buster is good also. Seems like the gimbal bearing would come out but be froze to the shaft. I think the tolerance ring on the bearing is stainless and the bell housing aluminum. Mine didnt have any rust except the inner race to the shaft. Maybe I am misinformed.

 

[Don S]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

If the gimbal bearing is frozen on the shaft, then it should come out of the transom shield.
My guess, is that it's frozen around the 6 mounting studs. They build up corrosion after a few years and really keep the drive on. Look around the studs, if you don't see a gap and only see white (corrosion), then you have found your problem.

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

Ya Don .....you got it as mentioned before ...

the lower port stud is siezed to the upper gear housing , thats one of the 6 ...three on each side ...

This was hard to figure with the leg in place as this is a custom fish boat and the leg is recessed between two large built in bait tanks ....

Thanks to all for suggestions.......... we used both Saltaway and Kroil ....about 10 hrs of repeated applications then with a steel nut on the seized stud we used a brass nut ( to transfer energy ) on a bolt and wacked the bolt head with a small sledge and bingo ..separation .

As we have the universal split will be no problem tomorrow getting the drive shaft out ......

 

[Don S]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

That's what I get for not reading the first post completely.
Heat, and lots of it. Small propane torch won't be hot or quick enough to get all 6 at the same time.

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

In case I run into this kind of stud siezed problem again are you saying I can go at the area of the stud holes with an oxy acetylene ? I would a thought that may britalize the casing . ????

 

[Don S]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

You don't have to get it THAT hot. What you try to do is heat the alum housing quickly so the aluminum expands a bit, but before the SS stud gets hot. That way the corrosion kind of breaks free. That's why a propane torch doesn't work. It heats so slow, the stud stays the same temp.
Makes the job go from your 10 hours to a 15 to 20 minute job.

 

[66mstgfsbk]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

ive been using zep 45 hard to find but its never failed me, even cuts through the worst rust.

 

[intrepidvoyager]

Re: Help ..seized gimbal bearing

OK ......good stuff ....were are all done now and good we pulled the transom shield as we can clean off 7 years worth of salt scale ...minor corrosion issues so can clean up and repaint etc .....have ordered up new spider and gimble bearing , seals. etc ...BUT ...we have an issue with the new 3.0 engine wiring harness ...... it has a new style rectangular pin plug versus the old style round plug ..... we need one of these adapters pronto so would like to get it shipped from the west coast.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370219784877&viewitem=

Any idea were we can order this from in California would be appreciated.

Thanks ......I'll start a new thread for this ....