u joint assembly question on Bravo one outdrive
 

I have a bravo one outdrive. I used my spanner wrench and I took out the u joint assembly by taking out that big spanner nut. My question is this, my ear on the yoke is bent, not the yoke that goes into the engine but the one that goes into the outdrive, so I ordered a new one. I know the outdrive has it's own timing mechanism. But does that have anything to do with what I took off? Reason I'm asking is when I take the yoke off and put my new one on there and put the new ujoints does it just go right back in with the big spanner nut? It might sound dumb but I'm just asking to make sure. Is it just take off the spanner nut, the whole u joint assembly comes off and you just put it right back and thats it? I didn't know if that would throw the timing on the outdrive off or something like that? Just trying to make sure

No, you have to align the upper and lower gear timing marks when installing the u-joint assembly. Opposite marks, not the same marks.

I guess I'm still a little confused. I apologize if it sounds a little elementary I'm just trying to cover everything. I didn't mess with the timing of anything so what do you mean by aligning the timing marks up? I only took off the u joint assembly I didn't take off the clutch assembly or anything like that. Below is a link to a picture of what I'm talking about

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/cabalea/007.jpg

It's really easy to do. Remove the rear cap. turn the upper gear till either the - or + sign is lined up to the mark on the housing, then do the bottom gear the same, BUT, use the opposite timing mark. Then install the ujoint assembly, which keeps those 2 gears in time. Just saying it's possible for those gears to get out of timing with the u-joint assembly removed and takes 1 min to check.

So in order to check just take the cap off and make sure that one is - and the other is +. Makes sense, but this is just as a precaution correct? or do they get out of timing everytime you take the u joint assembly out?

It depends if the driven gears move. With it in gear, one will be held with the cone clutch. The other will move, sometimes. The +/- signs are on the brass bump rings. Make sure they are lined up after the pinion gear is fully engaged.
Dick

You do not have to remove any covers. Just look in where you pulled out the joint with a flashlight and take screwdrive ang turn each gear to line up the + over the - and put the joint back in. That's it.