Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

[cornercanyon]

1987 Mercruiser 4.3 Litre (GM) V6 Alpha One.

To the best of my knowledge original equipment. I am tearing her down to rebuild stringers, deck, engine mounts, etcetera. I am pulling all the mechanical away from the dust and to learn more about what I have here. I have never had this boat in the water, after sitting 7 years, she started on the second key turn after we installed a new battery. I have had many years experience with Johnson outboards, though never owned an I/O.

Last night I pulled the stern drive and this is what I found. I assume I need a new bellows the u-joints feel tight and everything turns freely. Aside from all the maintenace the manual suggests, gaskets/o-rings, rebuilding the water pump and replacing the bellows what would anyone suggest I check/replace before I reinstall?

Thank you for any help.

 

[Don S]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

At the very minimum, you need new ujoints, bellows, gimbal bearing and probably inputshaft yoke into the drive and the seal.
Then you need to pull the bellows and see if the transom shield is still usable. If the area the bellows is clamped to is corroded away, you need a new transom shield.
Hazards of no preventive maintenance.

 

[cornercanyon]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Don S I have read many of your post and your wisdom is obvious. Would you mind explaining the reasoning for your suggestions so I too may become more learned regarding my new out drive?

I really appreciate your help.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

i'm not dons, but i think i understand why.
if you get water intrusion into the bellows. parts inside the bellows will rust. you can see that. the brgs. that are rusty, will soon be destroyed from turning while being rusty. they'll eat themselves up. then you have a failure at speed and who knows what will be taken out by whatever breaks.
as for the ft. seal. when you got water intrusion. the ft. seal of the drive keeps gear lub in, but not water out. so water will have penetrated the area where the ft. seal of the drive rides at. this will rust your yoke. which will further make the ft. seal, not seal. you need to check your gear lub to make sure you don't have water inside the drive too. you need to replace the bellows so you know that your not going to further have water intrusion.

i had mild water intrusion into my bellows area. mine looked much better than yours. i still did everything as i wanted it right. what it came down to for me was, replacing.
gimble brg.
ujoints
waterhose
shift cable + shift cable bellows
shift shaft
shift shaft slide
shift shaft lever
yoke + ft seal
input yoke shaft brgs. + shimming

i didn't need the gimble housing (transom shield) as the area where my bellows mounts to was intact. but i've seen pics of others boats that this area is all corroded away from being attacked by salt water from the water intrusion...

it's time consuming work. you'll need special mercruiser tools + good mechanics tools. torque wrenches etc. most of all you'll need your oem service manual and you'll need to read it over and over. do the deed by the book.

here's what i'm talking about for rust on the yoke..

you can see right where the seal rides at. you can see that this rough surface will also probably not allow a seal to occur + the rough surface will eat up the seal. this yoke was replaced w/new....

 

[Don S]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Don S I have read many of your post and your wisdom is obvious. Would you mind explaining the reasoning for your suggestions so I too may become more learned regarding my new out drive?

Ziggy pretty much covered the reasons for the parts being replaced. Things like the shift cable are replaced because of all the work necessary to get to it. If the ujoint bellows is defective, you can bet the shift cable bellows is in the same shape, and you have to remove the shift cable to replace it. So why put a 20 year old cable back in. Same with the water hose, for the money, do all the rubber parts at the same time.

 

[cornercanyon]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Thanks Ziggy and DonS! I love this site and you guys are what make it great.

I do have another question. I bought the Selco manual, I should have bought the OEM manual?

If I didn't have any water in the lube when I drained the unit would you still recommend I tear down the upper unit?

 

[cooter2506]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Do your self a favor and download the correct manual from the adult stickys section at top of this forum and use the seloc to maybe level a table or even as a wheel stop for the boat. As far as the outdrive if you had no signs of water intrusion in the oil then I would run it and drain it again and check for milky oil. If none it it then you should be fine. Just my opinion.

 

[Don S]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Head up to the Adults only sticky at the top of this forum, there is a link to oem service manuals you can download, keep your Seloc, you may need a knee pad while working on your engine.

If I didn't have any water in the lube when I drained the unit would you still recommend I tear down the upper unit?

Yes, if the yoke is rusty (and I would bet it is) it will take out the seal then you would loose the gear lube out of the drive, and into the bellows, and those uppers do NOT like to be run low on gear lube.

 

[cornercanyon]

Re: Found water, sand and rust? in bell housing

Thanks again! I appreciate your help.

Bummed about the Selco manual though. I had read a post that I thought said head to the top of the forum and get the right manual. I went to the very top, not the adult only section.

Oh well. It's probably not the only money I will spend and wish I had double checked.

Thanks again.