Prep for indoor storage question

[TomB985]

Hey guys,

I’m looking for storage advice. My boat goes into indoor storage next weekend, and rather than hassle with lowering the drive and pulling the battery once parked, I would like to pull the drive and store it inside. I was going to make a cover for the bell housing, but I’m wondering what to do with the lift cylinders. Anybody have a good way of tying them up, or should I just leave it together? Obviously I don’t want to store it all winter with the drive fully up. Any ideas?

 

[GA_Boater]

Run a dock line through the eyes and pull 'em up, then tie off the line where ever convenient.

 

[harringtondav]

I store mine outdoors, under a factory cover and tarp, which kinda covers the transom assy. To keep blowing snow and leaves out, I tape a plastic garbage bag around the bell housing.

Since you'll be indoors and dry (?), this is probably not necessary. I do as GA_Boater with the trim cyls. I tie mine off at the ski rope ring.

 

[TomB985]

Thanks guys, I will give that a shot if I had the chance before taking it to storage. Spent most of yesterday afternoon finishing the rest of my winter routine, and didn’t have time to yank the drive and Fab a cover. I also had to swap my lower drive, which is my penance for choosing an SEI Iower drive instead of repairing a bent prop shaft.

.

 

[TomB985]

Good evening, guys.

I was able to get the drive off last night, it was a bit more of a challenge than I was expecting. It took quite a bit of effort to get the driveshaft out of the gimbal bearing. When it came out, I saw this come with it.


Looks like the rubber piece is the gasket that comes with the kit, the aluminum part was a surprise. I’m thinking that’s the bellows sleeve? Of course it got mangled in the process, something I have to look forward to replacing the spring. It is the special tool needed, or is this something I can do my hand?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Why was it difficult to remove?
did water get in and rust it up?
If no water present was there grease on the input shaft?
When was the drive removed last for service?
You could be having an alignment problem if it was difficult to remove. The ring seals the bellow and usually does not remove when a drive is removed. The rubber ring is part of the drive mounting gasket kit

 

[TomB985]

I don’t know why was such a challenge, I wasn’t expecting that much trouble. The gimbal bearing seem to have an extremely tight fit on the shaft, but everything seemed well lubed, I can’t find any evidence of rust. The drive was last pulled in 3/2017 when I paid a shop to replace the bellows. They're a MerCruiser dealer with a decent reputation, so I wasn't expecting any issues from their work.

Part of my initial difficulty was alignment, as my trailer sits low enough to drive cannot sit all the way down. Things got easier when I jacked up one of the wheels and lowered the tongue, but still wasn’t perfect. But towards the end I was able to pivot the drive to the side and move the whole unit up and down, and it was still quite a challenge getting into the shaft out of that bearing. I had to use a pry bar several times.

At 5’8”, 140 pounds, I’m not exactly a big guy. I’m not looking forward to putting this thing back in the spring.