blew my upper this weekend.........any tricks to rebuilding it????? never done it before......

Best off to take it to a reputable shop that is equipped to build TRS drives.It takes several special tools to shim it out properly and assemble.Otherwise it isn't going to live.Be sure to ask if they have the correct tools to do a TRS!! It would probably be cheaper to find a used one.You can usually pick them up for about $800.

I agree they are hard to rebuild. Lots of shimming and tricks from what I have been told. Picklenjim: Don't you have to ship the lower to the upper as well?

Yes you do have to shim the lower to the upper. When I replaced my upper with a rebuilt one, the shop that I got my upper from wished that I would have also brought my lower so they could properly shim it. I went with the non-scientific way of adding and removing shims till it turned as freely as my port drive. When I first bolted the new upper to my existing lower the drive would not turn at all.

Ya you must shim the upper to lower.You can put in more shims than you will need then put the 2 together.Then you measure the space between the upper and lower cases with a feeler gauge at the bearing.Then take apart and remove the proper amount of shims as needed.Should be left .002" "tight".You can also do it with a depth mic by putting the race onto the bearing and measuring the distance from the lower case to the top of the race.Then you measure the depth of the hole the race goes in in the upper.Do the math and shim that way .002"tight".However both ways only put you in the ball park.You need to know the upper housing overall bearing preload and the propeller shaft bearing preload.Then you look on the chart in the manual to determine what the overall preload should be at the propeller shaft.Than final adjust those shims as needed. This is why I usually recommend people leave this part to a reputable equipped shop.Besides it takes a inch pound torque wrench that starts at 3-5 inch pounds.Most start at 30-40.

If you can't find someone local. I can do TRS ( yes I have all the Merc. toolss) and may have used parts. I recentlly sold a boat that I had for 25 years with a TRS and was stock pliling TRS parts as I thought I would keep the boat forever. I have a drive shop in Dobbs Ferry NY about an 1 1/2 hour drive from you.