sheen

I am trying to work up the courage to replace all the rubber in my 10 year old Bravo 3 outdrive. My main concern is the water hose and shift cable bellows. When I get inside the boat there is very little space between the engine and the transom. I'm 6'5" tall with long arms and I have barely been able to touch the inside hose fitting partly because the rear sunpad/engine cover gets a bit in the way. I think if I remove the sunpad completely I can get better access; however, I'm a little concerned that I may also have to remove the steering ram. There are also some other hoses in the way. I'm concerned that maybe one really needs to pull the engine to get access. Anyone have any tricks? Do I need to remove some of the exhaust hose/casting to come in from the side? Should I just tear into it?
Advice Welcome!!!

kwooley

Anyone got any suggestions on this.....

2112

If you can pull the engines, it will be easier. The shift bellows can be done from the outside with the drive off.

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whoya

iTrader: (1)

I think the Bravo three has the same set up as a Bravo one(Im assuming yours is not a enclosed cooling system).
The inside hose that goes from the transom to the Sea water pump is a thick wire reniforced hose. Im still running my orginal from 89.
This hose clamps down right behind the motor, You should not need to remove the exhaust hose. Use a extension and socket if you can't get to it good with a screwdriver. Same with where it connects at the water pump. You do have a hose from that sea water pump to the cooler then to the waterpump on the engine.
The outside of the boat hose you will need to pull the drive and the helmet to get to the hose and makes it easier to change the shift cable Bellow.
If you need the Hinge pin tool I sell them and others on Ebay (whoya2350)
I actually shot a video off doing a bravo one, Drive shaft Bellows, Shift cable bellows and trim sending wires.
To bad I don't have it edited down yet.

Thunderstruck

Buy a Bravo maintenance manual. It has all the procedures to get these jobs done. To replace the shift bellows you need to replace the shift cable also. The nut that holds the shift cable to the gimble housing is very hard to get off with the gimble housing on the boat. I had to remove the exhausts to get to the hose barb that covers the water inlet hose.

kwooley

I have removed the drive and bell housing. I cut the water hose just because I wanted to replace all the rubber on the outside of the boat, should have just removed it from the bell housing and not replaced. I did not know that I was going to have to get behind the engine to remove the connector to get the old hose out and put the new one in. I just hope I am able to get to it without pulling the engine.

Am I correct when I say I need to pull that connector off to get the hose out of the transom? the hose will not pull out, could it be that it is just stuck really good?

thanks for the insight. Next time I am going to take it to the pros and let them do it, only cost about $400.

Thunderstruck

Take off the hose barb on the inside of the transom plate. There is a plastic insert screwed into the hose that holds the hose in place. Look on www.mercruiserparts.com to see what it looks like. Although there is a special tool, I broke the old insert by prying on it with a big screwdriver and pulled the insert out with a pair of needle nose pliars. There will probably be some corrosion in the transom plate so clean it out and insert the new hose and screw in the new insert. I put RTV all over the hose and the fitting to keep it from leaking and getting corroded.

seafordguy

It would be pure murder to get to that inside hose fitting that is on the inside of the Gimbal with the engine in, especially if you don't have external steering, or you have coolers on the back of the engine. If everything you have mentioned is 10 years old you will NOT be able to get that shift cable out of the bellhousing in one piece due to corrosion - I had to drill mine out (you might be incredibly lucky if it is a freshwater boat). You will need a special tool to get that hose out because I believe they are the same as B1's and use a threaded plastic insert as was mentioned earlier.

Don't use those ****ty Mercruiser plastic clips to hold the drive lube lines that run between the transom assembly and the back of the bell housing. Use a nice SS radiator hose clamp.

seafordguy

Yes - if you got the hose insert out then all that is holding it in is corrision and years of adhesion to the assembly - I couldn't get mine out so I used a bit 1 inch (I believe) hole saw to get mine out....

kwooley

Thanks for the information. I decided yesterday that the damage to the bellow lip at the gimbal was to bad to chance, So I will be pulling the engine and replacing the transom assembly. I have only had the boat for 3 months so it working my wallet pretty good. I just hate having to say "gotta pull the engine".