1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

[seulb]

I have a 1971 type 1 stern drive and only see three grease zerks. One at the very top of the transom plate the book says is the upper pivot zerk, and one on each side for the tilt pins. My question is where is the gimbal bearing zerk?

 

[Alumarine]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

It's possible on a 71 there is no zerk for the gimble bearing.

I replaced the gimble on my 74 with an earlier one and it did not have a zerk.

On the original gimble I believe the zerk was on the starboard side at about 3:00.

One of the experts may come along and verify that.

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

It's possible on a 71 there is no zerk for the gimble bearing

i think that could be true, i've read it before...

if you do have one, here's where it's at..

this one is a '72 1 drive. don't know if it was replaced, coulda been as much was repaired on this boat over the years..

same place on this one. it's a '75 1 drive. i suspect it may be the original one that came with the boat... though don't know that for a fact..

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

A lot of the older Mercruiser drives didn't have gimble bearing grease zerks, one of the guru's might be able to shed some light on the year the gimble bearing grease zerk was added.

FWIW, my 72 1 drive does not have the gimble bearing grease zerk, you have to pull the drive and then the gimble bearing to grease it Just hope that the gimble bearing carrier was installed with the slots facing reaward so the gimble bearing tilted and removed without pulling the carrier. If you have to pull the carrier to grease the gimble bearing you need to (supposed to) replace the entire gimble bearing/carrier/tolerence ring assembly. Once you have the gimble bearing out, then comes the fun part of greasing it...

 

[APPALOOSA2]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

71 Did not have a zerk . You will have to remove outdrive and do by hand. I pack mine every spring .

I go through and do the u-joints and check alignment. It's not that big a deal to me.

I think boaters that have grease fittings never take their outdrive off and grease ujoints and check alignment and thats why then end up with troubles down the road or water......

It would be better to take it to Mercruiser dealer and get it done than never doing it. It will save you many $ in the long run.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

you need to make one of these from a used ring.Install the bearing with slots facing aft so you can turn it sideways in the slots to remove it.The "older" merc manuals stated that you could replace just the bearing "IF THE BEARING HAS NOT SPUN IN THE CARRIER RING". The new manuals omit this fact.

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

I think boaters that have grease fittings never take their outdrive off and grease ujoints and check alignment

i dunno. all ya have to do is read the service manual and you'll know that just greasing the fitting isn't enough. so if someone don't pull the drive, their either uneducated and unaware, or have to much money and don't care.

bd, love your home made gimble brg. greaser tool. couldn't be more perfect.. nice job. if your lazy like me or unskilled in alum. welding, like me. this is an alternative.. http://www.mercstuff.com/greasepackingtool.htm

here's a sb regarding gimble brg. replacement too.. http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/Service/Cruiser/Bullet/85/85_26.pdf

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

Well I somewhat disagree. We didn't pull the drive on our 76 in 10 years and never did anything but add a few pumps of grease to the zirk. When I rebuild the transom this past summer, the gimbal bearing was is great shape and full of grease. Unless your motor mounts have moved, I don't see why alignment needs to be checked each time.

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

Unless your motor mounts have moved, I don't see why alignment needs to be checked each time.

how would you know if they've moved if you don't check alignment?

Well I somewhat disagree. We didn't pull the drive on our 76 in 10 years

you are aware that your disagreeing with mercruiser. the maint. schedule is pull the drive once a year, along with an alignment inspection. you also missed 10 years of lubricating the coupler and the ujoints. i guess you could wait till something in your drive goes catastrophic. then you'll for sure know what it is you need to fix...
your pretty lucky to have had no failures with the lack of maint. your giving your rig... to each his own though.. glad your having good luck with the no maint. plan though... i've just never had that kinda luck..

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

Sorry, I didn't give full info. I mean that we didn't pull the drive to check alignment. We did have the bellows/u-joints lubed periodically, but not every year. My question is why would the mounts move? Ours don't have anywhere to go.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: 1971 mercrusier gimble bearing lube point

If the rear mounts break and allow the engine to squat down, your coupler gets eaten up real quick and you never know it untill you cant go anywhere or you have a very difficult time pulling the drive off.
The front mounts/side mounts are screwed into wood stringers/supports . These can rot allowing the motor to "torque over" under accelleration causing undue stress to everything else.
Maintance items include :checking alignment, greasing the spline, the U joints and a visual inspection inside the boot for oil(carrier seal leaking,lose enough and you blow the drive) or water intrusion (corroding away of the rear transom housing) and rusted U joints.
I really don`y give squat if you don`t the maintance BUT don`t complain to me when I give you the estimate to repair the damage from LACK OF MAINTANCE