Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

[IcantDo55]

1995 SeaPro 3.0lx Alpha I GenII

Bought his boat about 4 years ago and it had a...lets say lack of maintenance problem. I have gone through it and had used the boat successfully for the last three years. Aboyt 10 day trips a year. This year on the 1st voyage the motor made a strange grinding noise while turning so after some research I think its a gimbal bearing. Other than that the boat ran great and did not leak.

Today I pulled the outdrive and found this:

Where did the water come from? I tasted it and it seems to be fresh water? I only run the boat in salt water. I also run the motor on muffs when I get home. I did not start cleaning it yet in case you guys wanted any more specific pictures. The bellows look ok, they have water in them now and after moving the gimbal abound it does not seen to leak out. Could this water intrusion be from the obvious gasket failure in the final picture? That thats the water ump line right? The gimbal bearing turns freely with a little rough vibration so I guess its shot.



What would you do next?


Found some spell it like "gimbel" so you can search it too...

Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

If you had fresh water in the bellows, or at least it tasted fresh, it may be due to fresh water run of near your ramp. Could be a surface lay of fresh water on top of the salt water from storm drains etc. Who know.
More important is that you get it apart and check out to see what all is wrong. You will need at minimum a ujoint bellows, gimbal bearing, ujoints, probably the drive side yoke and seal (the sealing surface gets rusty and takes out the seals).
What you need to check is the bottom lip on the gimbal housing where the bellows attaches. In salt water they corrode off very easily, then you need a new gimbal housing (aka transom shield).
The seal you are worried about would have caused an overheat, not water in the bellows. I wouldn't even think about reusing that bellows. The hole could be on top or the sides. Doesn't have to be on the bottom. Seldom is.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Was this the first time you pulled the outdrive? It's generally a good idea to do it once a year to lube the u-joints, check for leaks, check alignment, etc.

Lots of places the water could have come from. If it was salt water and got hot, maybe it evaporated and left the salt at the bottom of the bellows before it condensed as fresh water when it cooled down - just think, your very own Mercruiser fresh water distillation unit!

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

If you had fresh water in the bellows, or at least it tasted fresh, it may be due to fresh water run of near your ramp. Could be a surface lay of fresh water on top of the salt water from storm drains etc. Who know.
More important is that you get it apart and check out to see what all is wrong. You will need at minimum a ujoint bellows, gimbal bearing, ujoints, probably the drive side yoke and seal (the sealing surface gets rusty and takes out the seals).
What you need to check is the bottom lip on the gimbal housing where the bellows attaches. In salt water they corrode off very easily, then you need a new gimbal housing (aka transom shield).
The seal you are worried about would have caused an overheat, not water in the bellows. I wouldn't even think about reusing that bellows. The hole could be on top or the sides. Doesn't have to be on the bottom. Seldom is.

Interesting....I bet this answers the question and problems I had with overheating last year.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=320873

Bet its been leaking from the pump hose o-ring for a year.

Now I got to go locate the strange tools necessary for this job.

 

[Don S]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

That's kind of why outdrives need to be pulled when doing the water pump impeller instead of short cutting and only dropping the lower. Half the job was missed.

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

That's kind of why outdrives need to be pulled when doing the water pump impeller instead of short cutting and only dropping the lower. Half the job was missed.

I see.

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

So its all apart and seen the failure was the water hose o-ring, all bellows are in good shape...or were! I ripped the shift bellow when removing it. So now how do I change that bellow? I real the manual and it seems to be be very wordy on the shifter cable replacement but not just the bellow.

What the least I have to remove to replace the bellow? Can it be disconnected from the drive side and bellow put on? The merc procedure on removal and replacement of the cable seems like a big project.

Thanks!


::edit::

Gave up and cut the shifter cable. New one is on the way. Yea another $100 Least I won't have to worry about that for another few years.

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Ok so after three days and a lot of cursing I almost got it together! Hell yea. Last thing is the u-joint bellows attaching to the gimbal ring (drive side). I got hinge pins in there and than seated the bellows in the grove and I cant get the little ring to go on there to lock them in. I tried for hours today with no luck!

Whats the trick??? I'm so close!

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Found this:
http://bpi.ebasicpower.com/mm5/merc...Product_Code=MER91-818162&Category_Code=MER3I

Is it required? Can I make this happen with out it? How?

 

[300sflyer]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Indeed you can. I used a bit of soapy water too.

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Oh this thing killing me!

Soap, oil, grease....it just wont go in there. I got a PVC coupler that fits it and pushed evenly but it just wont get over the 1st lip and end up pushing bellows out of the grove.

AHHHHH!!!

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Got it with the help of my $1.79 PVC tool.


YEA!!!!

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Just wanted to let you know I took boat out today and the fix was a complete success! Put 20 mikes on her and no more noise and no leaks!

To anyone that wants to do this job, its not that bad and with good people answering questions I'm sure your will be like mine, a success.

I be the job would be a lot harder if I had a bad corrosion problem but I did not.

The only special tool I needed was a slide hammer puller, rented from autozone for free. All the other "required" tools I made from PVC or made something work.


Thanks!

 

[Simoniz]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Excellent!

Did you replace the drive shaft with u/js yourself? If so, how difficult was that?

 

[IcantDo55]

Re: Questions on my Gimbal bearing repair inside.

Excellent!

Did you replace the drive shaft with u/js yourself? If so, how difficult was that?

I did not. I pulled a cap and they were fine so no point in replacing mine.

I have done many on cars and its not very hard but need a hammer and a socket the right size. Or the right tools...lol