outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

[weatherz]

Hello, I have just replaced all of the bellows, the water hose and the gimbal bearing in my 454/alpha one (87). Checked alignment with an old drivesaft, good and smooth, lightly sanded the driveshaft where it meets the gimble bearing and greased it also. When I installed the out drive it was tight with just a 1/2" or so to go. I removed it several times to make sure nothing was binding(shift shaft, rubber seal, etc.) every thing was OK so I was able to get the threads started and tightened them to pull the drive the rest of the way in. It went in OK but made slight popping sounds as I was tightening it. I am wondering if it is normal for a new gimbal bearing to be tight on the driveshaft? I haven't fired it up yet. I don't want to hear a squeel when I do. What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

and that my friend is why they make a tool for shaft alignment, an old shaft isnt good enough. if I were you I would remove the drive and recheck the alignment usinig the proper tool. with the proper tool you can tap the tool up and down as well as side to side to center the bearing. with a used shaft ya cant, it may be that the bearing was not quite alined with the coupler and its no worries. did the drive origanally slip right off or did you have to shake it off? most the time if the drive slips right off alignment is ok, if you have to shake or pry it off it may not be ok. the tolerance on the tool is tighter than the tolerance of the shaft, that is why the 2 orings are there. to take up the slack in the gimbal bearing id<br />and did ya have the shift shafts alined ?

 

[Don S]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

You might be getting up against the orings on the shaft and they are preventing the drive from going all the way on. You can pull the orings off the shaft (TEMPORARILY) and see if the drive goes all the way on. If it does, pull it back off and put the orings back on the shaft, put some oil on them and put the drive back on. If you are still lacking about an inch, bump it on.

 

[weatherz]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

Rodbolt, yes it came out very smoothly. and as long as I centered and drove the bearing and race square into the bore and seated all the way which I was diligent about, I dont see how the alignment could have changed much, if any. And I assume that since I have not had any coupler problems in the last five years or so, that the alignment has been correct. Shift shaft was aligned, forward gear, no binding.<br /><br />Don, The only thing that worries me is the slight popping noise when I was tightening it down, this makes me think that the shaft itself is a little too tight where it meets the i.d. of the gimble bearing.<br />One other thing, since I had a u-joint bellows failure, there was a slight amount of water that came out of the u-jounts when I greased them. They are still very smooth and feel like new, I know I should replace them but I was hoping for a later replacement. How long should I expect them to last? Thanks again.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

wynter,<br /><br />Every once and a while this seems to happen,and is hard to track down.One time I traced it to rust in the o-ring grooves.When I cleaned them and actually filed the grooves square again,drive went in that final bit just fine.<br /><br />DHP

 

[seahorse5]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

Also if you have a lot of grease on the orings, they cannot "seat" in the shaft grooves correctly. Clean out the grooves and put just a thin film of grease ( or use 30W oil) on the orings, and oil the gimble bearing bore. This is assuming that the alignment is correct, as posted previously.<br /><br />Some aftermarket gasket/oring kits have oversized o-rings. The factory parts seem to fit a lot better.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

hello ans sometimes the bearing is not quite centered in the beaing housing. the bearing can swivel a bit. thats why I use tyhe tool and not just an old shaft. it allows me to tap the tool about and center upthe bearing in the bearing housing.<br /> odds are you have no problems. but with just an old shaft its difficult to line up the center of the gimbal bearing. however if the bearing carrier is in alignmet with the coupler the inner part(bearing itself) will self align. and like DonS said. sometimes the shaft orings are a tight fit on the bearing ID. thats what they do. they are NOT there to acually seal anything but to take up the slack in the bearing and insure the bearing turns with the shaft. if they machined the two surfaces tight enough to operate and not chatter 2 spots of rust would lock it forever.

 

[flashback]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

I wondered what those O-rings were for?

 

[weatherz]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

Thank a million guys, you're a plethora of knowledge! I'm thinkin that it was in fact the o-rings.

 

[weatherz]

Re: outdrive tight going into new gimbal bearing

update, A-OK works fine lasts a long time we hope. No squeel I think the bearing was a little cocked like rodbolt said, self aligned when I tightened her down. Thanks again.