Grease fitting locations.

[No Worries]

First gen alpha. I have the drive off so i can do the impeller tomorrow. How many grease fittings are there? Also, i picked up some super tech marine grease at Walmart for the wheel bearings. Can I use it to grease everything on the drive as well? Thanks!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Sure, any grease is better than no grease....

 

[JoLin]

Don't forget to grease the engine-outdrive coupler. It's inside the boat where the oudrive's input shaft slides into the engine. The coupler will have either one or 2 zerks (mine have 1). You'll need a flashlight and a flex hose on the grease gun to hit it. I have to turn the motor to bring it to a point where I can get at it. I do that when I take the drive off in the fall, so I don't forget it when I'm rushing to get it back in the water.

There are either 2 or 3 zerks on the gimbal housing. One for each hinge pin and 1 for the gimbal bearing, unless that's been replaced with a 'lubed for life' bearing. The outdrive itself may or may not have greasable u-joints, but they're obvious. That's all I can think of.

The supertech grease should be okay. I used similar stuff. I recently switched over to the new Quicksilver Extreme grease, 'cause Merc says it'll work on all the moving parts.


My .02

 

[No Worries]

Don't forget to grease the engine-outdrive coupler. It's inside the boat where the oudrive's input shaft slides into the engine. The coupler will have either one or 2 zerks (mine have 1). You'll need a flashlight and a flex hose on the grease gun to hit it. I have to turn the motor to bring it to a point where I can get at it. I do that when I take the drive off in the fall, so I don't forget it when I'm rushing to get it back in the water.

There are either 2 or 3 zerks on the gimbal housing. One for each hinge pin and 1 for the gimbal bearing, unless that's been replaced with a 'lubed for life' bearing. The outdrive itself may or may not have greasable u-joints, but they're obvious. That's all I can think of.

The supertech grease should be okay. I used similar stuff. I recently switched over to the new Quicksilver Extreme grease, 'cause Merc says it'll work on all the moving parts.


My .02

Thank you John. I'm gonna pick up some of the extreme grease. I'm assuming hitting the coupler takes care of the shaft splines?

 

[Bt Doctur]

physically removing the drive for inspection and getting a handfull of grease on the spline before reinstallation is what works.

Sometimes you just have to get down and slippery to slip in back in.

 

[stonyloam]

The zerks depend on how old your outdrive is. There will be two for sure, one on each hinge pin of the gimbal ring. One on the upper starboard gimbal housing for the gimbal bearing. There will MAY one in the center of the upper gimbal housing for the upper pivot pin, and MAY be one in the lower gimbal ring for the lower pivot pin. You MAY NOT have a fitting on the coupler, if not, just coat the input shaft with grease when you reassemble.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Terry just described the Alpha grease points on a 'bout '84/ '85 vintage,... the Most Grease-able of All of 'em,....
That's the vintage transom assembly I put on my barge,....

Those before diidn't have 'em all, 'n since then there's been less, New drives have only a couple grease points,... if any,..??

I agree with BD, Pull the drive, 'n grease the u-joints,..... if they're grease-able,....
It's also the very Best way to grease the coupler,....
It's a $6. dollar gasket set to put the drive back on,... cheap,....

 

[No Worries]

Ayuh,.... Terry just described the Alpha grease points on a 'bout '84/ '85 vintage,... the Most Grease-able of All of 'em,....
That's the vintage transom assembly I put on my barge,....

Those before diidn't have 'em all, 'n since then there's been less, New drives have only a couple grease points,... if any,..??

I agree with BD, Pull the drive, 'n grease the u-joints,..... if they're grease-able,....
It's also the very Best way to grease the coupler,....
It's a $6. dollar gasket set to put the drive back on,... cheap,....

My outdrive is on an '84 SeaRay and I pulled it off for the winter. I'm just doing all my drive maintenance now. My first boat, no manual and first time preparing for the season. Winterizing was a success. I'm very mechanically inclined and insist on performing my own work. Here it goes!

 

[Bondo]

My first boat, no manual and first time preparing for the season.

Ayuh,..... Click on the link in my signature Don'S Adults Only Section,....

Follow the links to the factory manuals,....
Also note the thread titled Summerization,....

 

[QBhoy]

Hi
Mercury have their own theories about what grease to use on what...
I'm sure you can read up on it. They used to have about 3 different types for each application.
I think these days they only have one or two. One of them is called Extreme grease, which replaces a couple of them. 2-4-C is one of them.
Anyways...I just use the ultimate grease for everything.
As far as grease nipples and the number of them...I had a bit of a conundrum recently.
On my 2003 alpha gen 2, I was informed by the local Merc guy that there were only external grease nipples and the coupler/output shaft nipple had been done away with !
That wasn't the case. There were 3 (possibly 4) external and one almost impossible to reach internal on the coupler behind engine.
Best just to have a good look and be carful on the 2 external ones which grease the trim movement. Over greasing will perhaps burst the plastic caps right off.

 

[achris]

MC-1 to Alpha one Gen II drives have up to 5 grease points on the outside of the boat, Up to 3 on the inside. and Maybe 2 on the drive yoke to grease the uni joints.
Outside - 2 hinge pin, 1 upper swivel shaft, one lower swivel shaft and one gimbal bearing.
Inside - steering cable. engine coupler (may be 1 or 2 nipples)

Now, that's the maximum you'll find. Over time Merc has replaced greaseable parts with sealed parts, noteably gimbal bearing and Uni joints. But also the upper and lower swivel shaft and hinge pin grease points have disappeared.

Very common to find the only grease point left is the engine coupler, and I just slap some grease on the yoke before I put the drive back on....

Chris.......