New bellows

[News to Me]

Ok guys, I need a little assistance from you that have Volvo experience especially in the pats arena. I have a 2011 Regal 2300 with a VP 5.7 GIC 300-P / DPS-A, Engine serial # A166359 & Drive serial # A163587. As I was prepping the drive for winter, I always pull the drive and check the gimbal bearing, bellows, engine alignment, etc. The boat is 6 years old with 170 hours and always been in fresh water plus stays on a trailer with the drive down while sitting around. This year I decided to change both bellows because of the age as recommended. During the inspection I saw no water in the u joint bellows and the u joints were like new. I don?t have an issue with changing something that is working as a preventive maintance measure but the problem is with the replacement u joint bellows. The factory one on the boat is a nice thick rubber style and the replacement one has rubber ends and a plastic body. I know the exhaust bellows is not as important to change, but the new one is the thick rubber as the OE. The new u joint bellows does not feel or look like it would hold up. I have attached a picture of the new bellows and the part numbers that I bought. My question is did I buy the wrong U joint bellows or are they just cheap now? At this point I would rather have the old OEM parts then what I bought. Thanks for any help.

 

[89retta]

I think you got the wrong one. The one on the right is more oval and the left one is round. So I would say they are not the same part.

 

[News to Me]

They are not the same part. The oval is the exhaust bellows and the round one is the u jont bellows. I set them side by side to show the difference in the construction material. The exhaust is heavy rubber and the u joint is a plastic. If you can zoom in close,you can see the difference.

 

[Thalasso]

Volvo has changed the material. They have gone to the plastic feeling type of bellows

 

[bruceb58]

I never change my exhaust bellows. just wait until it rips which is not going to happen for 15 years or more

 

[News to Me]

Thalasso, have you heard any complaints with the plastic failing? It just doesn't feel like it would hold up as good as rubber. I know it doesn't have to stretch as far as the exhaust.

 

[Lou C]

It used to be that Volvo and OMC used the same exact bellows for the Cobra and Volvo SX drives. I just changed my Cobra bellows this spring and its the same OE part as always, the thick rubber original style. I have found that these bellows last a long time as long as you can store the boat with the drive down. My boat sits high on the trailer so that is no problem for me. I wonder if they changed because the plastic might be more durable under certain conditions. If you keep your boat in the water you can get barnacles and other hard growth growing on it. These can actually cut the bellows if you do not inspect it and remove them every so often. The harder plastic may hold up better to this but still flex enough to work well. Just a guess on my part. My last one looked OK still after 11 years! A few small cracks started to appear so I changed it.

 

[Lou C]

PS this boat is moored in salt water for 6 months each season. That's why the old one looks like that.

 

[muc]

from service bulletin P-44-1-27


New U-joint bellows kit 22197130 As part of our efforts to continually improve our products, Volvo Penta has introduced a new, patent-pending, u-joint bellows for all SX, DPS and DP-S sterndrive TSKs. The new bellows is constructed from an advanced thermoplastic elastomer which provides excellent fatigue resistance and has a proven reliability history. Benefits to our customers; ? greater reliability, less repairs and down time (failure of the u-joint bellows can lead to expensive u-joint and sterndrive repairs). ? lower cost of ownership, the change interval for the new bellows is four years. Note: current and past owner?s information states that the bellows must be changed every two years

Note that this new bellows DOES NOT use a spring inside of it.

P.S. Yes they work better so far, they have been out since 6/2014

 

[bruceb58]

Note: current and past owner?s information states that the bellows must be changed every two years

Interesting...I know DonS used to say 5 years and that is what I always used as an interval.

 

[Thalasso]

Thalasso, have you heard any complaints with the plastic failing? It just doesn't feel like it would hold up as good as rubber. I know it doesn't have to stretch as far as the exhaust.

Haven't heard anything about them.

 

[muc]

Interesting...I know DonS used to say 5 years and that is what I always used as an interval.

I'm guessing he was referring to the "Swedish drives" (the ones with the primary driveshaft bearing) they are tougher on bellows and the consequences of a leak can be much more expensive. I agree that 2 years is right for them.

 

[Lou C]

Hopefully they tested this one well. Of course if you have an SX drive you could get the OE one for an OMC Cobra since its the same as the one they used previously.

 

[News to Me]

Muc, Thanks for the info. I found out by calling a couple of VP service centers and they told me that had been using them with no problems at this point. My local VP shop was as surprised as I was as he had not changed one in awhile.

 

[Jim Lucier]

Found a split exhaust bellows (SX-M) while prepping my 2005 Chaparral for winter storage. Ordered a replacement from Cecil Marine this morning (EXHAUST BELLOWS KIT - 3850426) , not sure which one I am getting.

 

[bruceb58]

Found a split exhaust bellows (SX-M) while prepping my 2005 Chaparral for winter storage. Ordered a replacement from Cecil Marine this morning (EXHAUST BELLOWS KIT - 3850426) , not sure which one I am getting.

I doubt exhaust bellows changed.

You do realize the exhaust bellows come with slits in them right?

 

[Jim Lucier]

I doubt exhaust bellows changed.

You do realize the exhaust bellows come with slits in them right?

Didn't know about "slits". This one is split through and hanging out the bottom. My assessment is that it is "shot".

 

[evantful]

Found a split exhaust bellows (SX-M) while prepping my 2005 Chaparral for winter storage. Ordered a replacement from Cecil Marine this morning (EXHAUST BELLOWS KIT - 3850426) , not sure which one I am getting.

The Exhaust hasn't changed. Still fully rubber.

In regards to the shaft bellows. I changed mine in early summer of 2014, right when the change over happened and received the new style.

Its a very high quality part. An ABS-like plastic forms most of the new bellows, while softer rubber is used on each end for collar and mating surfaces.

After 2 years it looks flawless. This ABS-like plastic would be less prone to impact puncture (however unlikely that is), pinching puncture and a much longer life span in regards to dry rot of the rubber.

 

[News to Me]

Evantful, The new bellows seems to be harder to expand, is it more difficult to get it in place and clamped on? If I am not mistaken you can run without a exhaust bellows if you don't mind the fumes and noise. The merc bravo 3 I had before this boat just had an exhaust tube that would only send the exhaust through the prop with the drive down.

 

[evantful]

I didn't have much trouble with, no more problematic than I remember previously. Its still a bit of a pain but you just slowly work it on and everything comes together fine.

Yes you could run without the exhaust bellows, but given how easy it is to replace compared to the shaft bellows I would just get one on. I imagine theres a slightly greater risk of backwash being forced up the exhaust.