stuck gimbal bearing

[I/O WALDO]

Workin on an 88 maxum,350 mercruser,A-1,came in for spring maintaince and found drive FULL of water,drive bellows GONE,pressure tested on boat and could hear it leak out yoke seal so we TRYED to pull the drive with minimal luck.After tryin everything we could think of it was drive in the pry bars between the bell house/drive time.Well,she separated alright,now we have a drive which no longer has the input shaft/gear/retainer/bearings in it!The million doller ?? is,how to get that#%!#%? shaft/g,bearing out of the transom house? We went sofar as to put a chain through the UJ.and put it around a tree and yanked/snatched it 3 times with no luck!(23ft.boat WAS attached to the trailer with 2 ,2" straps on the rear and the winch strap on the eye.)After we got the boat back on the trailer we just put it away for another day.Think you can remove the engine with this shaft still in it and then MAYBE sledge it out?The bearing turns while cranking but the retainer and the shaft R frozen tight!

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: stuck gimbal bearing

Spray some Kroil on it for starters...<br />That stuff works wonders.....<br />Or hacksaw the input shaft to get the engine out, .....<br />At least you might be able to save the coupler.....JK

 

[bigbrownbuku]

Re: stuck gimbal bearing

spring maintenance my behind. id be taking photos and making plenty of notes. <br />id pull the yoke and remove as much as i could from the transom. use the yoke pin replacement kit. heat that shaft very quickly and quench it a few times to break the rust at the shaft bearing union. i have made some very large slide hammers. just pulling is gonna see the boat on the ground again. heat bang pull repeat.<br />how much room in front of the motor? maybe pull the rear mount bolts and slide it forward off the shaft or enough to cut it and beat it from the inside.

 

[Don S]

Re: stuck gimbal bearing

Pull the engine and use a sledge hammer is the fastest way. It will knock the shaft and gimbal bearing out as one piece. Too much water for too long, I've tired all sorts of penetrating oils, never worked, and you can't get a torch to the inner race of the gimbal bearing with the shaft still in it.<br />It's an expensive lesson to do maintenance on time and when it should be done.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: stuck gimbal bearing

Don, thats if the shaft isnt frozen in the coupler too.In that case youll need to cut the shaft inside the boat first to get the engine out.Then phase 2 with the large hammers.

 

[Don S]

Re: stuck gimbal bearing

In that case youll need to cut the shaft inside the boat first to get the engine out

You can pull the engine without pulling the drive, once the motor mounts are removed just slide the engine forward. You can't put them back that way though.<br />It's been a couple of WEEKS since I did this last, but I doubt things have changed much in that amount of time. The rust in the bellows doesn't usually get into the shaft and coupling.<br />The shaft is stuck in the gimbal bearing and the bearing is corroded into the transom shield, but the shaft should come out of the coupler with only a little effort in the worst case.