TRS information needed
 

We own a 1981 Cruisers Inc Veesport 266. It is powered by a single 7.4 L Mercruiser/TRS drive combination. Headed out for a family holiday on the Trent system last week and only got about 10 miles when the drive failed completey with only a few minutes of vibration as a warning. Our mechanic hauled the boat and removed the drive. Discovered a damaged universal joint and a destroyed yoke and bearing assembly at the trasom. Debris from the damged yoke and universal punched through the bell housing and tore up the bellows as well. Apparently he was able to order all of the parts from Wisconsin except the hinge pins.

I don't know how many of these drives he has actually serviced but he is also saying that the engine will have to be pulled in order to replace the inner bearing assembly.

I'm an industrial electrican by trade and the kind of person who likes to gather as much information as possible before moving ahead with a project and was glad to find a site with so much information about these drives.

I purchased the boat about ten years ago and the surveyor told me I was lucky to find one with this type of drive because they were virtually indestructible. I guess I'm wondering whether the engine actually has to be pulled to rebuild this patr of the unit or is it just inexperience on his part.

Would be glad for any additional information I can get from people who deal with these things on a more regular basis.

Welcome to the site. If he is talking about the gimbal bearing that sits in the tail shaft of the transmision then it depends on what transmision you have. If you have Merc Trans then yes you need to pull the engine. If you have a Borge Warner then you can do the bearing in the boat. It is easy to tell because the Merc Trans has a grease fitting near the bearing. The yoke on the merc trans also has a female shaft with a spring on it that goes into the tranny vs. the male shaft with no spring on the Borge Warner.

Hope that helps

Jon

Thanks for the quick reply. I won't be abck at the boat for a couple of days but I do remember seeing a spring in conjuction with the shaft of the yoke. I also crawled around the engine compartment on the weekend looking for somemarkings that would help me identify the transmission. I did read in one of the threads that the BW transmission can be detached from its bell housing while the merc transmission incorporates the bell housing as part of the transmission. If that's the case it looks like I have a merc tranny.

By the way, the site appears very helpful.

http://www.marinemanifold.com/
This place can get you any trs part you need. Just email them. They are in BC.
I just bought a set of hinge pins from them last month when I replaced my TRS transom assembly.
Good luck

tsp, thanx. . . I will check them out. I've always got my eye out for Canadian sources because of shipping issues.

Changing the output bearing on a Merctrans does not require pulling the engine. The retainer (65989) can be removed with a cold chisel, and a replacement retain can be modified to allow clearance, and still allow more than enough support to hold the bearing in place. Pulling the engine is of course preferable, but at times can pose a challenge in certain "tight" installations. I personally have changed dozens of output bearings ( "not" gimbal; gimbal by definition pivots) in the previously described method, without complication of any kind.