New Ujoint bellow and old gimbal bearing

[dlogvine]

I am looking at replacement of the U-joint bellow and a gimbal bearing. I wonder if I can use one of the cheaper bellows from Ebay or Amazon or should i go with a brand name? As for the bearing replacement I have one that I took out from the gimbal a year ago, but it is spinning freely, no sounds when moving. Can i reuse it, or should i buy a new one as well. And what kind should I get then?
thank you

 

[tpenfield]

You 'can' do whatever you want. But it may not result in the desired outcome.

I'd try to get the Mercury/Quicksilver branded bellows, but you may have some flexibility with the gimbal bearing. I would not re-use the old bearing.

It sure would be nice to know where Mercruiser/Mercury sources their parts, so 'we' can buy them at 1/3 the cost.

I think the Merc branded gimbal is now $100 . . . used to be about $50 when I last did gimbal bearings.

 

[Scott Danforth]

merc and VP use the same gimbal bearing. I believe its from SKF from a thread a few years back - tried doing a google search of Iboats,com to find the thread however keep getting everything but the thread I remember.

there is the mallory / skf bearing numbers in this thread...https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...ines-outdrives/578840-gimble-bearing-question

this may help to https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...0364683-new-style-gimbal-bearing-from-mercury

I have used the mallory parts in the past without any issue.

 

[Lou C]

For parts like impellers and drive shaft bellows I like to use OE. The cost of failure is greater than the cost savings you might realize. And nobody likes doing the same job twice because a cheaper part failed.