Alpha one Bellows Replacement

[Chemdawg]

Hello everyone. It's been a while. Been busy with the Army life. Anyways, I got a nice break in weather, so decided to put the bell housing back on my boat with new shaft bellows, exhaust, shift, and water line. All I can say is WOW. I could not for the life of me get everything to bend and stretch where it has to go. THe line that goes to the thermostat, to bell housing is so stiff, I can't get it to bend where it needs to sit. The big bellows is fighting me every step of the way on stretching it out to make it fit. So...

Everyone that's done this, could someone spit out some tricks that makes it real easy, or EASIER to put the bellows back on?

Thanks in advance.

Pat

 

[flipbro]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Are you using bellows adheasive and whats the temp were your working? Oem or after market

 

[achris]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Are you using bellows adheasive and whats the temp were your working? Oem or after market

That's my question.

Couple of weeks ago I did a bellows and gimbal bearing for a guy whose bellows split. Destroyed the gimbal bearing, so.... Anyway, we used OEM, whole job took under 2 hours. (sorry, guys, forgot to video it... Next time)...

Past experience is that the OEM bellows slip straight on (with bellows adhesive of course), easy peasy... After-market will fight you every inch of the way... I REFUSE to fit after-market bellows or shift cables, end story!

Chris.....

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Soak in real hot water for a while to make more pliable. As flipbro mentioned its going to be a lot harder in the cold weather.

 

[Chemdawg]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

The parts I'm using are sierra. It could be cause of the cooler weather, but even in the house here, where it's warm, the drive bellow, is really stiff. I think I will do the boil trick and see if that helps. The exhaust bellows isn't as bed. The hose that's by goodyear, is really hard to finagle into place.

 

[81Concord]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Just did this to my 81 MC -1 drive. The trick for the ujoint bellows is to get the bellhousing bolted down then lift up the bellhousing as high as it will go, this will allow the top of the bellows to slip over the edge of the gimble housing. Then use a long screwdriver to push the bellows around the edge. took me 10 minutes tops once I figured out this little trick! Still haven't got around to getting the exhaust put on. Looking back I should have just done the exhaust boot instead of an actual bellows...

PS. Attach the hose to the gimble housing first, then attach it to the bell housing BEFORE you bolt the hinge pins in.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

That hose can be a pain, when I did mine I wound up taking the fitting off the transom so that the hose could go on straight, then put it back together. Make sure it is not kinked when you get it back on.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

That hose can be a pain, when I did mine I wound up taking the fitting off the transom so that the hose could go on straight, then put it back together. Make sure it is not kinked when you get it back on.

Ayuh,.... Followin' the manual, Exactly, the job is a piece of Cake,....

Unboltin' that fittin' is in the manual,...
I've tried to cheat it, 'n ended up followin' the manual,... Exactly,...

 

[thumpar]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

For the short water hose I just put the end in boiling water for a minute or so. Make sure it doesn't touch the bottom. It slid right on.

 

[MikDee]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Ayuh,.... Followin' the manual, Exactly, the job is a piece of Cake,....

Unboltin' that fittin' is in the manual,...
I've tried to cheat it, 'n ended up followin' the manual,... Exactly,...

YES! Especially to know what position to put all the ring clamp screws in, so you can get at them.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

DO NOT INSTALL THOSE! I used aftermarket U-joint bellows, exhaust bellows, and trim sender/limit switches, and they ALL failed within a year. I missed out on almost an entire year of boating because I didn't have the time to devote to it.

Now, I'm redoing all of it with Quicksilver.

Here's a thread of mine that may be helpful: http://forums.iboats.com/mercruiser-i-o-inboard-engines-outdrives/reinstalling-bell-housing-after-bellow-replacement-358447.html #12 is my summary.

Actually, the U-joint bellows didn't split until the second season.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

What caused me a day of frustration is that I didn't trial fit the hose before I glued up the bellows-es. Got it together, realized there was a kink, took apart, trimmed the hose, reassembled. Kink. Took it apart. Trimmed. Reassembled...each layer of bellows adhesive made it harder and harder to reinstall. I hated that day!

 

[Speakrdude]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

And Thank You for your service!

 

[Chemdawg]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Just a heads up on what I am doing here. I took a piece of 4" PVC pipe, and spun it in a lathe and machined it down so the bellows fits over it nice and smooth. I clamped one end down tight, and stuck the whole thing in hot water. Once it got soft, I pulled it so it was streched out, and clamped the other end down. It's sitting that way right now. Hopefully when I go to try to install it again, it will make it easier to get into place. Not sure if this is a good way to do it or not, but it doesn't seem that it can hurt.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Chemdawg, If your still having a problem with the Sierra bellows, as stated earlier an OEM is made to tighter specs and will be easier to work with and install.

 

[flipbro]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

I could not get my aftermarket (MALLORY) water intake hose on with out it kinking every time and yes I trimmed it to the correct length! I ended up just going and buying the oem hose much stiffer and installed without a problem No kink at all Im learning that some things you just have to bit the bullet!! I also had a F@*$ of a time with the ujoint bellow but got it now im worried it may fail

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

The bellows shouldn't fail if it was put on right and tightened down well but it will not last as long as an OEM one will.

 

[CaptainMak]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

I could not get my aftermarket (MALLORY) water intake hose on with out it kinking every time and yes I trimmed it to the correct length! I ended up just going and buying the oem hose much stiffer and installed without a problem No kink at all Im learning that some things you just have to bit the bullet!!

Sorry, I know this thread is old, but the trick I used to "un-kink" the water intake hose is to put a stainless steel clamp (the worm-gear type) over the place where it was kinked, and tightened it just enough to put some pressure on the "kinky" :laugh: spot. Works like a charm.

 

[JerryIrons]

Re: Alpha one Bellows Replacement

Just to add my experience with this, I am in the middle of it. (all bellows change) For the water hose, attaching to the transom side, what worked for me was using power tune, and also turning the gimbal ring to open up a gap on the port side. (my bell housing is off) That way I was able to extend the hose to the port side along the back of the boat so to speak, and could twist it on the fitting easier. Screwing it on by making a complete revolution seemed to help. Also, put a mark on the nipple of where your end goal is I think helps too.

I actually was going to go in the boat, and take the fitting off the transom unit, but for my boat it was not going to be any easier that way. Not much space back there, hard to get to screws that hold the plate on, etc.

Just posting this in case it helps anybody else as one more thing to try in this really fun easy job

-Jerry