Water and oil in the OMC U Joint Bellows

[Sydmoe]

Took the Cobra out drive off my 1988 OMC 57.. My shift cable was seized and in the process of tearing it apart to change it I see there is oil and water in the Ujoint bellowsI.... planned on replacing the gimbal bearing and all bellows while doing the shift cable anyway but now that I see the oil I was wondering if it was just from the grease or could it be leaking in from the upper unit of the out drive Is.... there a seal or something that I should change to be safe or am I reading more into this than there is. I know when I had to do the bellows on my Alpha 2 summers ago it was leaking oil in from the out drive. I had to bring it in cause I din't have the special wrench to change it. I see in the exploded view of the Cobra unit that there is a O ring but thats about it. Also is changing the gimbal bearing on a Cobra similar to a Merc. I have a Chmer manual but I haven't' started looking up the specific procedure and thought advise from here could help me first.

Thanks guys

 

[Don S]

Re: Water and oil in the OMC U Joint Bellows

The input shaft seal in the drive is not designed to keep water out of the drive, only the oil in. When you get water in the bellows, it goes into the drive.
At minimum, you need a new input shaft seal, and possibley the yoke. Once it gets rusty, it eats up the seals.
And get a real manual OEM manual, the Clymers is the worst of the worst aftermarket manuals. Way to much incorrect information to make it useful.

 

[Sydmoe]

Re: Water and oil in the OMC U Joint Bellows

thanks big D.......the slowness of the board must be killing you......you respond to a great number of post and it must get frustating.

Also, no special tools needed to change the input shaft seal is there?