I have a multipart question that I would appreciate help on. Basically, I have a gear oil leak into the bellows. The outdrive is a MercCruiser Alpha1 Gen II.
Some background first. I had a vibration in my drive both at idle and at speed. It was noticeable for a while during the summer but had suddenly got worse. I pulled the drive and replaced the U-Joints. I checked the Gimbal Bearing and it seemed fine. When I replaced the U-Joints, I removed the U-Joint assembly thinking it would give me access around the Castle Retainer nut for the tool. But there was still no access for the tool and decided to make minor cuts into the castle nut for access rather than take the Assembly apart. At the time I was concerned about resetting the bearing preload because I don’t have the proper torque wrench. So I replaced the U-Joints, re-installed the Assembly and torqued it to 131 FP (which gave the proper 200 FP torque at the castle nut). After that, I reinstalled the drive. I drove the boat a few hours without any issues that I am aware of, and the vibration was gone. After a few days with the boat on the trailer, I noticed the Gear Lube Monitor was low on oil, almost empty. I pulled the vent plug on the drive and verified the drive had oil. Then I decided to pull the drive and that’s when I discovered a ton of oil in the bellows. I have since pressure tested the drive and I can hear a leak at the U-Joint shaft. It is not leaking at the castle nut Retainer. So here are my questions:
Question 1: Is it a coincidence that the leak started after I pulled the Assembly from the drive or did I screw something else up in the process? I didn’t disassemble the unit so I am puzzled as to why it started to leak. It was laying on the bench as I replaced the U-Joints so could that have contributed to it?
Question 2: Having all that gear oil in the bellows, could it have ruined the Gimbal Bearing, Bellows, or the new U-Joints that I installed? I read somewhere that the gear oil could contribute to washing out the grease. The U-Joints are the Permalube type.
Question 3: I plan on replacing the seal and have ordered the proper inch pound torque wrench to perform the preload. But in the service manual there is a section called “Checking and Adjusting Drive Gear Location”. I am very confused about what this is and when it needs to be performed. It has to do with positioning the Drive Gear properly. Can someone explain what this is about?
So, sorry for such a long set of questions, but if anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it.
Some background first. I had a vibration in my drive both at idle and at speed. It was noticeable for a while during the summer but had suddenly got worse. I pulled the drive and replaced the U-Joints. I checked the Gimbal Bearing and it seemed fine. When I replaced the U-Joints, I removed the U-Joint assembly thinking it would give me access around the Castle Retainer nut for the tool. But there was still no access for the tool and decided to make minor cuts into the castle nut for access rather than take the Assembly apart. At the time I was concerned about resetting the bearing preload because I don’t have the proper torque wrench. So I replaced the U-Joints, re-installed the Assembly and torqued it to 131 FP (which gave the proper 200 FP torque at the castle nut). After that, I reinstalled the drive. I drove the boat a few hours without any issues that I am aware of, and the vibration was gone. After a few days with the boat on the trailer, I noticed the Gear Lube Monitor was low on oil, almost empty. I pulled the vent plug on the drive and verified the drive had oil. Then I decided to pull the drive and that’s when I discovered a ton of oil in the bellows. I have since pressure tested the drive and I can hear a leak at the U-Joint shaft. It is not leaking at the castle nut Retainer. So here are my questions:
Question 1: Is it a coincidence that the leak started after I pulled the Assembly from the drive or did I screw something else up in the process? I didn’t disassemble the unit so I am puzzled as to why it started to leak. It was laying on the bench as I replaced the U-Joints so could that have contributed to it?
Question 2: Having all that gear oil in the bellows, could it have ruined the Gimbal Bearing, Bellows, or the new U-Joints that I installed? I read somewhere that the gear oil could contribute to washing out the grease. The U-Joints are the Permalube type.
Question 3: I plan on replacing the seal and have ordered the proper inch pound torque wrench to perform the preload. But in the service manual there is a section called “Checking and Adjusting Drive Gear Location”. I am very confused about what this is and when it needs to be performed. It has to do with positioning the Drive Gear properly. Can someone explain what this is about?
So, sorry for such a long set of questions, but if anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it.
