Gimbal & bellows ?

[ericcarr2000]

Ok, I think I'd like to TRY to replace my gimbal hearing and my bellows on my bravo drive assembly. After calling around and getting prices on this I thought to myself, " for that price I should try to do it myself" . I've never tried to do these jobs do I'm not really sure what's all involved in it. Are these jobs that a do it yourselfer can tackle, and what tools would I need?

 

[Chemdawg]

The boat I have now is my first, and it has the alpha 1 drive in it. I replaced all the bellows myself the first time. I am in the process of doing it a second time. I've always done my own maintenance on everything from cars to my bike, to my boat. It's cheaper and I learn a lot as I go along. Now the other side to that is how mechanically enabled are you? I work in a factory and spent 14 years working on machines, and have been an electrician now for the last 3. So mechanical stuff comes easy to me. This site helped me a TON as well.

You can do it. Patience and a little research make things much easier.

Pat

 

[Bt Doctur]

gimbal bearing remover and installer, alignment tool, can of "Power-Tune"
Shift into neutral, remove drive,
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/11/11a4r5x.pdf

 

[thumpar]

For the bearing you can get a puller loan a tool at autozone. To install you will need the tool. When I replaced mine I took it to the shop with the drive removed and it was only $65 installed. The tool costs more than that. For the bellows just follow the manual. I did those myself.

 

[ericcarr2000]

I'm very mechanically inclined. I've performed my own maintenance on all my vehicles, bikes, buggies, boats myself. I just get s little nervous when it comes to thinking about messing around the area that keeps the water out of the boat is all. I'm not about to pay someone $1300 to do this if I can...!i think I'll give it a go then...

The boat I have now is my first, and it has the alpha 1 drive in it. I replaced all the bellows myself the first time. I am in the process of doing it a second time. I've always done my own maintenance on everything from cars to my bike, to my boat. It's cheaper and I learn a lot as I go along. Now the other side to that is how mechanically enabled are you? I work in a factory and spent 14 years working on machines, and have been an electrician now for the last 3. So mechanical stuff comes easy to me. This site helped me a TON as well.

You can do it. Patience and a little research make things much easier.

Pat

 

[Bt Doctur]

If your within a few hours of me I`ll do for half that
On a Bravo its not necessary to remove the gimbal housing, you just need the room to get to the transom clamp

 

[tpenfield]

I did mine (twin engines) last year . . .

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...s/9929359-bravo-3-bellows-replacement-times-2

It was not too bad . . . I think my thread covers the tools needed as well as the shear joy of doing it.