XRs too,"red dot goes to white dot" now,Merc grease fitting plug in Merc# 8M2015913 or its a 1/4-28 UNRF size plug.One failure so far w/ a BravoII/GKN u-joint assm.It blew the bearing apart and wrecked the gimbal-----turned out to be a locked up u-joint that caused it.

I recently bought a boat with a Bravo one drive, like the one pictured, and I can't figure out what is supposed to seal the drive unit to the bellows/bellhousing. On mine, there is no seal, and no gasket. I don't know if someone before me put it together without parts, or if I am missing something.

I am going to head off the suggestion that simply the act of bolting the drive to the bellhousing will create a water tight seal. I am fairly confident thats bologna. Everything else has rubber and seals, this will too.

The only thing I could see that would do it, is if the front bearing boss on the drive unit was supposed to rest against the bellows rubber inside the bellhousing and create a seal that way. The only thing is, on mine, the bellows rubber is about 2.350 deep and the bearing boss is only 2.075 long, so there is a small gap because the bellows rubber is too deep into the bellhousing. If this is the case, maybe this is what happened to ICDEDPPL's unit.

Brian
EFI-Unlimited

Ok, A little further investigation I think explains it. The bellows in my drive has two grooves in the rubber, one of which is supposed to engage a lip inside of the bellhousing. Who ever put this together last, installed the lip into the rear most groove, making the bellows rubber too deep inside the bellhousing to seal against the drive unit when installed. After moving the rubber to the next groove/lip combo, voila, the rubber is the correct depth to contact the drive and seal it.

ICDEDPPL, measure the depth of the face of the bellows in the bellhousing. Make sure it is shallow enough to seat against the drive unit and seal.

Now, I wonder how long my boat has been this way....
Used boats are like a box of chocolates.......

Brian
EFI-Unlimited

How the heck did they get the aluminum ring to go into the bellows with the lip in that groove? I tried it once, no way in hell it was going to seat. :eek:

.

That explains a lot.... They didn't. There ring was not installed. They just used bellows glue and let it ride....

Brian
EFI-Unlimited

The picture thts been deleted just shows a brand new bellows full of water.
I finally had a chance to take it off and where the bellows made contact with the gimbal ring, it was really easy to pull off, there didn`t seem to be any cement at all, just traces of the old cement.

Without cement could that be point of leakage?
The bellows still looks brand..


Also I bought the hinge pin tool and didn`t end up needing it at all. I have somekind of one piece hinge with just two screw on the outside then the whole thing slid out. ?????

You have HI-Performance Hinge Pins. You remove those 2 screws (don't strip them or your life will become unpleasant). Then you use a slide hammer to yank it out..... I rented an axle puller kit from Advance Auto - KIT # 41 (I would post a picture but I let my membership lapse). Don't buy the fitting from merc to screw into the hingepin because it sucks, and that Kit#41 comes with one that fits exactly and didn't break on me like the Merc one did.

I don't take the hinge pins out to replace the bellows - I do it with the bellhousing ON.

The bellows HAS to be in the right grooves when you put it together. Cement is important, but the bellows will seal perfectly if it is in the right grooves - pay special attention on the backside (the bellhousing side).

If your gimbal bearing got soaked again I would replace it, or it is destined to fail at the exact wrong time. When you do so I would put the race in the opposite way that Merc recommends, so that the grooves face outwards - then you can change gimbal bearings with a screwdriver and 20 seconds.....

Thanx Ford.. I am replacing the Gimbal too .. its shot.
The hinge pins came out pretty easy.
One of the heads of the hinge screw broke off like nothing.. I figure drill and retap.

Now that you say that I remember breaking one of mine I believe, and I ultimately had to retap it. I had forgotten about that.

If you are pulling the gimbal race out there is a metal seal that sits between it and the transom housing. If you can get your puller on without destroying that you can save yourself 20 bucks or you can just destroy it and replace it.

Like i said, I put my gimbals back in with the notches facing backwards so that you can just turn the bearning 90* and pull it out. I also bought a $35 dollar alignment tool off ebay that worked out great. It is a member on here that fabs them.

Don't forget the Bellows Adhesive!! 92-86166Q1