marina says gimbal bearing was installed backwards?

so last summer i was visiting a friend down south and helped him with doing his transom rebuild.. we installed a greaseless gimble bearing on a v/p sx assy. the reason being that the gimbal housing was taking on water leaking from where the grease fitting tube meets the housing . the tube was removed and the hole filled in with epoxy. at the end of the season the outdrive was making noise so he drained the fluid and found water in the oil. he removed the drive and it was nice and dry in the bellows/gimbal housing so we know the repair worked out. i told him to take it to a shop to have the drive tested.
the marina installed a new gimbal bearing and stated the old bearing was installed backwards. now i know there is a front and back but i know the main reason for that is to be able to remove the gimbal from the ring. which did not need to be done.
the marina charged him 4.5 hrs to install a gimbal bearing. its not like it was seized and corroded up. meanwhile they never pressure tested the drive and did not address the contaminated oil. just refilled the unit. SMH
anyways, my question is, do greaseless gimble bearing (sierra) even have a front and back?

do greaseless gimble bearing (sierra) even have a front and back?

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Yes, but for the most part it doesn't matter.

Looks like your friend was taken to the cleaners and still didn't fix the problem

alldodge said:

Yes, but for the most part it doesn't matter.

Looks like your friend was taken to the cleaners and still didn't fix the problem

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yup

Yeah man I just fitted new rear brake shoes to my Sis -in-laws car coz we knew they were worn out , anyhow she takes it for a wof (Warrant of fitness , 6 monthly check for roadworthyness ) and they tell her it needs new brakes ( among other bulls hit ) they got 5hitty and threw me out when I went and demanded an explanation ..... but before they got paid

Sounds like your friend got screwed, I don't think it matters which side of the gimble is put in first.

Even with drive removal ,replacing a gimbal bearing DOES NOT take that long

Removing and installing a gimble isn't that hard. As far as testing the drive, usually I drain it, install the pressure tester and then proceed to do other work on the boat and taking a look at the tester when I can. It should not take 4 hours unless you run into problems. We also vacuum test the drives during service.