Alpha I stern drive noise

[ctak]

I have noise coming from my stern drive... kind of like loud rubbing. Anyway I greased the gimble bearing and engine coupler. No change... This noise is there w/ the muffs on and the motor running out of gear. I took the boat out and noticed that the noise vibrates more when I turn left or right. I thinking that the u joints need replacing... tomorrow I'm pulling the drive to take a look. I have a Clymers but is there anything special I need to know when pulling the drive. Also how do you know if your u joints need replacing? What else should I check while I have the drive off? Also what should I expect to pay for the parts? Thanks in advance...

 

[tylerin]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

Just going through this w/ my omc cobra and I also greased my gimbal bearing. But a bad bearing is a bad bearing. While you have it apart replace u-joints and bearing. I know our drives are not the same but I'm looking at u-joints $35.00 each x 2 complete upper end kit incl. bearing and both bellows 89.00. Shaft seal I'm not sure yet

 

[Trent]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

ctak.... Your going in the right direction! Noise when turning left or right is the u-joints. Depends on year model...they need to be greased every year. Later model did not have grease fittings. Make sure you replace with greaseable joints if you dont have them now. Also make sure your bellows are in good shape. Water inside the bellows will destroys new joints....fast

 

[ctak]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

I have now pulled the stern drive and pulled and replaced the gimble bearing. The old one had some rough spots so I replaced her. Dropped the lower unit and checked the impeller. Still was in good shape but ordered the kit to replace. The parts shop was out of stock so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I tried to put the stern drive upper back on the boat. However I'm finding this a rather difficult task. It will go in until the threads are about to poke through the unit(can't get a nut on it yet) and won't go any further. I haven't tried any heavy persuasion yet. Is this normal. Do I have to put the lower unit on to install the stern drive? Also this is an Alpha 1 '94 (gen II I think) the manual says that when you drop the lower unit there should be an O-ring on the shaft. After dropping the lower unit saw no O-ring and when I looked in the upper unit coupling found only a rubber sleeve seal w/ a spring type ring on top. Is this right? I'm thinking on putting the O-ring that came with the gasket kit on the shaft but I don't know what good that will do since there is no place for it to seat. Also what type of lube should I use around the drive shaft and o-rings.. I have a silicon based lube that was left over from a evenrude 15 impeller change, would this work? Thanks again.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

You asked a lot of questions.First the od should be in put together when installed so you can turn the prop shaft to help align the splines so the drive will go furthjer than you can get it.There should be an o ring between the upper and lower units(very small),there should be a larger o ring over the top of the shaft only if there is a groove in the shaft for it.The spring like o ring you found in the upper is a seal and that should go to a merc mechanic for repair.There is a big round seal that goes between the upper and the housing when putting the drive on.And last you should use marine grease on all the parts and lower gear lube inside the drive. Charlie

 

[ctak]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

Thanks for all the help. I have just put everything back together. I have an alpha I gen II stern and it doesn't appear to have an o-ring on the shaft to the lower unit. I checked with a local boat mech. and he said that on gen II they used a rubber sleeve instead because the o-rings were a weak spot. The impeller kit wasn't in until 2pm so I put the upper on with out the lower unit. When I first started pushing the stern upper into the bell housing it would go just until the threads on the bolts started sticking out of the upper holes and then wouldn't go any further. I tried even a little mallet rap but to no avail. Then I pulled everything out and tried slipping the old gimble bearing on the shaft and voila! it wouldn't go over the last 2 o-rings. The kit that I got had the wrong size o-rings in it. I went out and bought the right ones (smaller) and installed them and then installed the upper stern. I found that by keeping the bottom of the unit in place and tilting the top back I could reach in w/ my finger and rotate the shaft by the u-joints. Anyway about 3 tries and it slipped in and with a persuasion with a mallet it went in far enough to put the nuts on the bolts. The lower unit installed fairly easily also. I tightened everything up filled with gear lube and put the muffs on her and she fired right up. Amazing she was pumping water out the right places! Anyway I'm taking her out tomorrow for a test run and hopefully nothing goes wrong. Thanks again for all the help.... this is the greatest site for any boater.

 

[MarkJSullivan]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

ctak...let us know how it went

 

[ctak]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

Test run went smooth. No noise in the outdrive or vibration from turning right or left. One thing I noticed when I went to flush the salt out is that with the muffs on there was water sputtering out the front of the stern drive right where the speedometer tube connects to the lower unit. Seems to be coming from inside. Anyway is this normal? I don't remember this before I did the work. Everything else seems fine.

 

[MarkJSullivan]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

as long as you are haveing fun....I have never heard of the new problem that you are haveing..go RED SOX

 

[ctak]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

Took her out again this morning.... salmon season opened on Friday. The stern drive seems to be running smooth and w/o any noises. I'll just keep running her until I hear different.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

So the noise went away by replacing the gimbal bearing? Did you replace the u-joints?

 

[ctak]

Re: Alpha I stern drive noise

When I pulled the upper unit off I noticed that the gimble bearing was a little rough in places... the u-joints looked like new. I had already purchased new u-joints so I was about to replace them when an auto mechanic stopped by. I had him look at the u-joints and he said they looked fine and said if it was him he wouldn't replace them. So I took his advice and figured if there was still noise in the outdrive I would pull it and replace them then. Well I guess it was just the gimble bearing because the outdrive is smooth and quiet. I probably will have to change the u-joints in the near future but having pulled the stern once I feel much better about doing it myself in the future.