King Cobra Gasket lack of

[Firefighter3011]

Hello All

I have encountered another King cobra newbie question. Recently here in Pittsburgh the weather has turned to cold and it is time to pull out for the winter. This being said I removed my outdrive and found a water logged gimbal and water filled u joints!. I had expected this since the gimbal bearing was starting to make some noise. Now my bellows are good there are no tears , holes, or anything of such sort and the worm clamp is tight and there is plenty of glue on the pivot housing side. Now the fact that there was no gasket between pivot housing and the outdrive mating surfaces in fact angered me to the max. Then when I read the manual I have found out that there is no gasket called for ? The manual isn't going to lie but I ask what is to keep water from entering the drive shaft chamber?

The only thing it says upon reinstallation is to use triple guard grease around the tapered bearing carrier end (Nose looking aluminum piece that slides into pivot housing) Now is this grease the seal that seals the chamber? It makes sense to me because it actually enters into another tapered bore when the outdrive is fitted. Now when I took the outdrive off there was heavy corrosion around this tapered bearing carrier and no grease whatsoever this is where I could see some water was entering. I have since cleaned that surface up with a wire brush as well as all the aluminum webbing mating surfaces where the outdrive meets the pivot housing. I added some permatex to all the mating surfaces just to be on the safe side as well as the grease on the tapered bearing carrier.

Now would the lack of grease have been causing this to leak? Is this what was designed to be in place on a king cobra instead of having a gasket like the regular cobra?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: King Cobra Gasket lack of

The grease just acts as a lube. The nose of the drive(bearing carrier) pushes against the bellows and that is what performs the seal.

How old are the u-joint bellows? Have you evre had water in the bilge high enough to allow it to enter the drive from the inside?

The gasket you are referring to does nothing to keep the water out of the bellows.

 

[Firefighter3011]

Re: King Cobra Gasket lack of

I'm told the u joint bellows were replaced two seasons ago. They look pretty new . I bought the boat from the deceased owners estate and the boat sat for a year in a storage yard on the trailer. The bilge drain plug was removed when I picked the boat up but that doesn't mean it was in the entire time the boat was for sale. I never thought about that. I guess I'll just have to wait until it goes in the water next season. I installed the drive per the manual so we shall see. Is there any way I would be able to tell if water was leaking into the bellows besides waiting for the gimbal bearing to start making noise ?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: King Cobra Gasket lack of

The other way you can get water in there is if the tube that allows you to grease the gimbal bearing leaks.