Okay, I'm a newbie and this is my 2nd post and stop me if you've heard this one, but I have a tip that might be helpful to some. I'm replacing my gimbal bearing -- and a bunch of other stuff as well -- and just finished dropping the bellhousing down and out of the way. I assume that everyone of experience here is familiar with the procedure, but for those that are not, you might want to start with this thread -
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=409065&highlight=shift+cable+bellows+clamp
and particularly with Reds Green's post in that thread, which is post #6. He lists four links as his "References," and two of them are Sterndrive.com links for the procedure(s) involved.
So, I pulled off the outdrive and set it aside, disconnected the shift shaft cable onboard at the shift plate, etc., then removed the trim senders and the hinge pins, cut the small clamp off the shift shaft bellows (it was a zip tie deal), got the U-joint bellows off the gimbal housing (I think that was ALREADY off!! -- more later), then loosened both the exhaust bellows clamp and the water hose clamp (from directly below) and got the exhaust bellows loose from the bellhousing fairly easily using a dull screwdriver (again, from below). So then all I had left to do was get the water hose off the bellhousing and I'd be able to pull the bellhousing back and drop it down out of the way so's I could get good access to the gimbal bearing.
Hah ha
That freaking water hose / bellhousing connection was a Bi**ch!!! It's obviously been on there a LONG time and it was really really stuck. Plus you can't really get to it very well with a screwdriver or other tool to pry it loose (at least I couldn't figure a way). I was able to get to maybe 1/8 of the circumference of it from below with my screwdriver, and work that kinda loose a bit, but that's just not enough to allow you to pull the hose off the connector it's been clamped to forever and is now really stuck onto.
So, what I did was this:
I went onboard and located where that hose comes thru the hull and then followed the run to where I could disconnect the 'upper' hose in that run somewhere on the engine, which turned out be where it goes into that 'box' that looks like it's some kind of electronic valve thingie.
I'm new to this boating stuff, so give me a break.
Anyway, that disconnection was pretty accessible and went pretty easy, so now I had what amounts to the upper end of the hose I'm trying to remove (except it's not all one hose, of course), the end I'm trying to remove being the bottom 'end' of that 'hose.'
BTW, in case you didn't know -- which I didn't -- the 'water hose' I'm trying to remove from the bellhousing is an intake water hose. It sucks water in so's it can be pumped to --- ????????? (I'll figure that out someday).
So there's no standing water or antifreeze or anything like that in the 'water hose' that ya have to remove from the bellhousing.
So anyway, with that upper end of the thing disconnected, I first plugged the opening in the bellhousing (which is the terminus of that water intake situation) using the plug that ya put BACK into the 'drain hole' of your boat BEFORE you put the boat back into the water for the season. Again, I dunno the proper term for that plug, but I DO know that if you forget to put it back in and put your boat in the water without it, yer gonna sink.
So, after using that plug to plug the bellhousing's 'water intake hole' (which is a 1" diameter hole) I simply poured some hot soapy water into the upper end of the 'hose' (the end I disconnected from that valve box thingie) and left that end propped up so's the water would stay filling the hose run.
Then I went back down below the bellhousing and pried some more on the water hose with the screwdriver until I saw some water begin to dribble out. Then I sat up and grabbed the water hose and twisted it and wiggled it and worked it as much as I could, trying to break the seal where it was stuck, even if only just a bit, so's the hot soapy water could do it's thing.
Then back down below it with the screwdriver, and then back sitting up and working and wiggling it, and so on and so forth until ..... before too long the hot soapy water did it's thing and the hose came quite loose and eventually I was able to pull it off the connector.
Without that hot soapy water, I'd still be cussing at that freaking water hose. Because that sucker was REALLY STUCK!
So that's my trick for the day. I hope this helps somebody else cuz it sure did help me.
The reason I say this hose has probably been on there forever, and why I note that my U-joint bellows was probably already loose, is because I bought this boat second hand a few years ago (I think it's an '86 if I remember correctly) and have not yet had it in the water because it's obviously had water leaking into the bellhousing and rusting up the bearings and such. I've only now taken the time to address these problems and (hopefully) get this puppy into the water someday. So I wouldn't be surprised if some mo-mo DIY'er (the prior owner?) worked on the U-joint bellows and just didn't get it back onto the gimbal housing flange, and maybe didn't even appreciate the consequence of that. Or maybe he just forgot to tighten the large clamp, because when I went to loosen it, it was already mighty loose.
No wonder I have a rusty gimbal bearing and some other rusty stuff too boot!
__________________
1986 212 Galaxy LX
Mercruiser 170
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=409065&highlight=shift+cable+bellows+clamp
and particularly with Reds Green's post in that thread, which is post #6. He lists four links as his "References," and two of them are Sterndrive.com links for the procedure(s) involved.
So, I pulled off the outdrive and set it aside, disconnected the shift shaft cable onboard at the shift plate, etc., then removed the trim senders and the hinge pins, cut the small clamp off the shift shaft bellows (it was a zip tie deal), got the U-joint bellows off the gimbal housing (I think that was ALREADY off!! -- more later), then loosened both the exhaust bellows clamp and the water hose clamp (from directly below) and got the exhaust bellows loose from the bellhousing fairly easily using a dull screwdriver (again, from below). So then all I had left to do was get the water hose off the bellhousing and I'd be able to pull the bellhousing back and drop it down out of the way so's I could get good access to the gimbal bearing.
Hah ha
That freaking water hose / bellhousing connection was a Bi**ch!!! It's obviously been on there a LONG time and it was really really stuck. Plus you can't really get to it very well with a screwdriver or other tool to pry it loose (at least I couldn't figure a way). I was able to get to maybe 1/8 of the circumference of it from below with my screwdriver, and work that kinda loose a bit, but that's just not enough to allow you to pull the hose off the connector it's been clamped to forever and is now really stuck onto.
So, what I did was this:
I went onboard and located where that hose comes thru the hull and then followed the run to where I could disconnect the 'upper' hose in that run somewhere on the engine, which turned out be where it goes into that 'box' that looks like it's some kind of electronic valve thingie.
I'm new to this boating stuff, so give me a break.
Anyway, that disconnection was pretty accessible and went pretty easy, so now I had what amounts to the upper end of the hose I'm trying to remove (except it's not all one hose, of course), the end I'm trying to remove being the bottom 'end' of that 'hose.'
BTW, in case you didn't know -- which I didn't -- the 'water hose' I'm trying to remove from the bellhousing is an intake water hose. It sucks water in so's it can be pumped to --- ????????? (I'll figure that out someday).
So there's no standing water or antifreeze or anything like that in the 'water hose' that ya have to remove from the bellhousing.
So anyway, with that upper end of the thing disconnected, I first plugged the opening in the bellhousing (which is the terminus of that water intake situation) using the plug that ya put BACK into the 'drain hole' of your boat BEFORE you put the boat back into the water for the season. Again, I dunno the proper term for that plug, but I DO know that if you forget to put it back in and put your boat in the water without it, yer gonna sink.
So, after using that plug to plug the bellhousing's 'water intake hole' (which is a 1" diameter hole) I simply poured some hot soapy water into the upper end of the 'hose' (the end I disconnected from that valve box thingie) and left that end propped up so's the water would stay filling the hose run.
Then I went back down below the bellhousing and pried some more on the water hose with the screwdriver until I saw some water begin to dribble out. Then I sat up and grabbed the water hose and twisted it and wiggled it and worked it as much as I could, trying to break the seal where it was stuck, even if only just a bit, so's the hot soapy water could do it's thing.
Then back down below it with the screwdriver, and then back sitting up and working and wiggling it, and so on and so forth until ..... before too long the hot soapy water did it's thing and the hose came quite loose and eventually I was able to pull it off the connector.
Without that hot soapy water, I'd still be cussing at that freaking water hose. Because that sucker was REALLY STUCK!
So that's my trick for the day. I hope this helps somebody else cuz it sure did help me.
The reason I say this hose has probably been on there forever, and why I note that my U-joint bellows was probably already loose, is because I bought this boat second hand a few years ago (I think it's an '86 if I remember correctly) and have not yet had it in the water because it's obviously had water leaking into the bellhousing and rusting up the bearings and such. I've only now taken the time to address these problems and (hopefully) get this puppy into the water someday. So I wouldn't be surprised if some mo-mo DIY'er (the prior owner?) worked on the U-joint bellows and just didn't get it back onto the gimbal housing flange, and maybe didn't even appreciate the consequence of that. Or maybe he just forgot to tighten the large clamp, because when I went to loosen it, it was already mighty loose.
No wonder I have a rusty gimbal bearing and some other rusty stuff too boot!
__________________
1986 212 Galaxy LX
Mercruiser 170