First time gimbal/bellows questions
05-24-2016, 12:43 PM
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First time gimbal/bellows questions
Gimbal started groaning in my Bravo 1 last season, I used to have a local performance marine shop that did all my drive service but they've since closed and I really don't trust my local Marina. Decided to buy the tools and learn for myself.
Pulled the drive and found some water on the yoke; U-joint bellows has a tear near the bellhousing end. Used my new puller and got the old gimbal bearing out so im in good shape.
All of the bellows and the water hose were replaced 4 years ago, boats had maybe 40 hours on it since, always stored on a lift with drive down. Drive was serviced last year and new heavy duty U-joints were installed.
My questions are;
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself?
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff?
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be?
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.
Pulled the drive and found some water on the yoke; U-joint bellows has a tear near the bellhousing end. Used my new puller and got the old gimbal bearing out so im in good shape.
All of the bellows and the water hose were replaced 4 years ago, boats had maybe 40 hours on it since, always stored on a lift with drive down. Drive was serviced last year and new heavy duty U-joints were installed.
My questions are;
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself?
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff?
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be?
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.
05-24-2016, 01:18 PM
#2
Gold Member
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Gimbal started groaning in my Bravo 1 last season, I used to have a local performance marine shop that did all my drive service but they've since closed and I really don't trust my local Marina. Decided to buy the tools and learn for myself.
Pulled the drive and found some water on the yoke; U-joint bellows has a tear near the bellhousing end. Used my new puller and got the old gimbal bearing out so im in good shape. Do some research on here about which way to put the bearing in. Lots of us put them in backwards so that if one ever fails again you can knock it out with a screw driver and replace it with your fingers in about 2 minutes.
All of the bellows and the water hose were replaced 4 years ago, boats had maybe 40 hours on it since, always stored on a lift with drive down. Drive was serviced last year and new heavy duty U-joints were installed.
My questions are;
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself? You can just cut a slit in a paint stirrer and make the shift cable adjustment tool. Check the condition of the shift cable and make a decision based on your gut. If that cable breaks there is a BIG hole into the boat. On the other hand however, 4 years is kind of a short time for the Bellows to have gone bad, and you might get away with several more years before needing to service. I will tell you whenever I have replaced a shift cable they have been so corroded in there that I have had to drill them out and ruined the cable. I sure as hell wouldn't bother with the water hose, especially in fresh water.
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff? You can buy the quicksilver brand pretty cheap. I believe i used it on both sides of mine. Just FYI - you can replace the bellows without pulling the ring or bellhousing off.
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be? Mine got soaked in salt water due to a bellows failure and are fine 8 seasons later. I wouldn't worry here.
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.
Pulled the drive and found some water on the yoke; U-joint bellows has a tear near the bellhousing end. Used my new puller and got the old gimbal bearing out so im in good shape. Do some research on here about which way to put the bearing in. Lots of us put them in backwards so that if one ever fails again you can knock it out with a screw driver and replace it with your fingers in about 2 minutes.
All of the bellows and the water hose were replaced 4 years ago, boats had maybe 40 hours on it since, always stored on a lift with drive down. Drive was serviced last year and new heavy duty U-joints were installed.
My questions are;
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself? You can just cut a slit in a paint stirrer and make the shift cable adjustment tool. Check the condition of the shift cable and make a decision based on your gut. If that cable breaks there is a BIG hole into the boat. On the other hand however, 4 years is kind of a short time for the Bellows to have gone bad, and you might get away with several more years before needing to service. I will tell you whenever I have replaced a shift cable they have been so corroded in there that I have had to drill them out and ruined the cable. I sure as hell wouldn't bother with the water hose, especially in fresh water.
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff? You can buy the quicksilver brand pretty cheap. I believe i used it on both sides of mine. Just FYI - you can replace the bellows without pulling the ring or bellhousing off.
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be? Mine got soaked in salt water due to a bellows failure and are fine 8 seasons later. I wouldn't worry here.
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.
Hope some of my amateur advice helps...
05-25-2016, 10:03 AM
#3
Registered
My questions are;
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself?
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff?
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be?
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
I just redid everything on the back of my cafe these past few months. I have a TRS setup but a lot of it's the same concepts. What i can tell you is replace the hoses, bellows, and boots if you can. You don't want to have to tear it down again 2mo later because of something easy that should have been done to start with. For merc parts, I looked up all my part numbers and ebay'd em. I found a site, name escapes me, but I got all the parts at least 40% off what any marina around here charged for them. It cost me a little more and I may have replaced a few things that weren't quite at EOL, but now I'm set and in theory, should have no issues for awhile.
I'd say you'd be ok with your u-joints and yoke. Just clean them, new O-rings, push in new grease and check for play. If it's tight, you're ok.
There's a lot of guys that make it out like this stuff is rocket science but if you're halfway mechanically inclined, methodical, read, and take your time (plus a few cuss words, tossed tools, and beer) you can easily tackle any of this. I did my entire transom assemblies (upper and lower pins, all new seals and needle bearings, steering levers, you name it) and only bought one merc tool....the hinge pin removal tool. If you're creative, you don't need to spend hundreds on their tools. I can share pics of the common tools i used to push and press anything on the backs of these boats and they worked just fine.
Happy to help if you have any questions as a few on here have certainly helped me!
- Everything looks good other than the U-joint bellows, should I be replacing the shift bellows and water hose anyways? Not trying to cheap out but I don't have the shift cable adjustment tool or the taperred tool for the water hose. If I do the shift cable bellows do I need to also replace the shift cable itself?
- My old u-joint bellows was not installed with adhesive on the gimbal side, do I need it and if so is there a generic product I can use to avoid special ordering the Merc stuff?
- The U-joints are only a season old, they were wetted with fresh water but show no signs of corrosion. Am I ok to flush with new grease and leave them be?
- The yoke has considerable corrosion up near the rear of the coupler splines and first O-ring, but the remainder is clean as a whistle. The corrosion is not fresh, looks like it's been cleaned in the past and now its just rough/pitted. Is this typical or do I need a new yoke? I would only question the sealing ability of that O-ring closest to the splines and to be honest I'm not sure what its sealing against.
- The Merc manual for the drive specifies a special grease for the gimbal/ujoint of the standard Bravo, but recommends Unirex EP2 for the XR drives. Anything wrong using EP2 in the standard Bravo?
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
I just redid everything on the back of my cafe these past few months. I have a TRS setup but a lot of it's the same concepts. What i can tell you is replace the hoses, bellows, and boots if you can. You don't want to have to tear it down again 2mo later because of something easy that should have been done to start with. For merc parts, I looked up all my part numbers and ebay'd em. I found a site, name escapes me, but I got all the parts at least 40% off what any marina around here charged for them. It cost me a little more and I may have replaced a few things that weren't quite at EOL, but now I'm set and in theory, should have no issues for awhile.
I'd say you'd be ok with your u-joints and yoke. Just clean them, new O-rings, push in new grease and check for play. If it's tight, you're ok.
There's a lot of guys that make it out like this stuff is rocket science but if you're halfway mechanically inclined, methodical, read, and take your time (plus a few cuss words, tossed tools, and beer) you can easily tackle any of this. I did my entire transom assemblies (upper and lower pins, all new seals and needle bearings, steering levers, you name it) and only bought one merc tool....the hinge pin removal tool. If you're creative, you don't need to spend hundreds on their tools. I can share pics of the common tools i used to push and press anything on the backs of these boats and they worked just fine.
Happy to help if you have any questions as a few on here have certainly helped me!
