Washing out drive bellows and gimble bearing question...

[Crispin]

1999 Crownline 202BR with 305 Mercruiser, 450 hours. New to me. Long time mechanic, boats and cars but this is my first time inside an I/O.
The gimble bearing feels good and the bellows looks good and I believe they were done not too long ago. I'm replacing the outdrive after finding completely destroyed pinion gears in the upper drive. Two questions...
I would like to get a better look at the bellows. Can I wash out the u-joint bellows cavity and the whole area back there with Gunk or other engine cleaner, rinse with hot water and not hurt the gimble bearing? Is it a sealed bearing or open?
Second... Please look at this pic and offer opinions on why something like this happened.

 

[Bt Doctur]

It was running with low/no gear oil. shift into fwd, remove the drive and I suspect you will find the oil that was lost .You should have also seen gear oil in the bilge area.This is why deive removal is suggested at end of season to inspect for gear oil or water in the bellow. I remove mine every year for the past 9 that I have owned it and have not had any failures from lack of oil.
Your cost is a gasket and 2 qts of oil or a full drive replacement eventually

 

[Bondo]

I would like to get a better look at the bellows. Can I wash out the u-joint bellows cavity and the whole area back there with Gunk or other engine cleaner, rinse with hot water and not hurt the gimble bearing? Is it a sealed bearing or open.

Ayuh,..... I agree with BD on the cause,.....

I'd just use rags to do the clean up, 'n the gimble bearing, Could be greaseable, or sealed,.... donno which, both have been around for awhile,.....

 

[Scott06]

1999 Crownline 202BR with 305 Mercruiser, 450 hours. New to me. Long time mechanic, boats and cars but this is my first time inside an I/O.
The gimble bearing feels good and the bellows looks good and I believe they were done not too long ago. I'm replacing the outdrive after finding completely destroyed pinion gears in the upper drive. Two questions...
I would like to get a better look at the bellows. Can I wash out the u-joint bellows cavity and the whole area back there with Gunk or other engine cleaner, rinse with hot water and not hurt the gimble bearing? Is it a sealed bearing or open?
Second... Please look at this pic and offer opinions on why something like this happened.View attachment 416969

you boat would have originally come with a greaseable bearing. Somewhere around 2008 ish they started using the permalube bearing, and if installed the installer is supposed to take out the zerk fitting and replace with the plug that comes with the bearing so no one tries to grease it. So if you still have a zerk it is likely greaseable

I would not clean it with water just use a rag and brake cleaner etc to clean it up will not get at the grease in the brg.

BT DR has you steered straight on the cause.

Was there rust on the driveshaft and u joints ? water intrusion will start corrosion in there including the input shaft seal that wiped out your drive.

Does you boat have a lube bottle inside? should have alarmed when level got low

 

[Crispin]

Thanks. You can see the bearing cage is rusty; certainly not a good sign. I didn't know about boats with lube reservoirs in the boat. How does that work? Does the drive stay topped up all the way to that cover I removed in the pic? Have Mercruiser I/O's always been like that.

 

[Scott06]

Thanks. You can see the bearing cage is rusty; certainly not a good sign. I didn't know about boats with lube reservoirs in the boat. How does that work? Does the drive stay topped up all the way to that cover I removed in the pic? Have Mercruiser I/O's always been like that.

Yes, most Alpha gen 2 drives have a lube bottle in the engine compartment . im assuming due to the year you have a gen 2? via a hose it feeds the drive with lube through a poppet valve on the bellhousing. On the earlier gen one drives a leaking input shaft seal will fill the bellows with oil unbeknownst to the the owner, so easy to let it run drive and smoke it.

certainly not 100% fail proof but saved me when I caught a fishing line on prop shafty two summers ago. Noticed the level had dropped so started looking for issues.