If the splines move, they will continue to move.....meaning....it's not bound due to twisting....otherwise, you could not move it at all.

Don't be concerned with internal......nothing in the bay is causing an issue.

For starters, drop your lower. BUT.....pay attention to the shims!!!

Dont drop them, or leave them stuck "up there" when u drop it. Label carefully....port/stbd....and reinstall as removed once this is over.

If needed, you can buy shims cheap too....and I'm sure I have enough laying around if u need..."

Anyway, with the lower off, you have better access and control over the remaining pieces....and you can also change the seal.

In about five minutes.....you can see what I wrote earlier about what
exists Between the bell housing and upper....

Did u read my other post on your ram inquiry?

I saw the link for the parts but what ram inqury did I have? The only ram question I had was hooking the rams back up to help push the drive off. The link you posted was just a diagram of the ram, at least that's what it looked like to me.

Comcrap or gmail are having trouble....

Took the pics....emailed to home so I can save and attach to post, but they are not showing up in my inbox......

Guess I have to post in the am....

My understanding was that Mercruiser stopped manufacturing the TRS in 1986 along with the 420 big block. They went alpha and 310 hp 454 in 1987 and came out with the Bravo in 1988. The biggest motor available in 1988 was the 365 hp 454 mag.
I would assume that a 1988 boat with TRS would actually be leftover 1986 power/drives.

You don't disconnect the bellows just to remove the drive. And NO WAY can you get in there and disconnect the yoke by tearing apart the bellows. That's crazy.

How far out is the drive coming? Off the studs or just a little, like half inch or so. Do you have Borg-Warner trannys or Merc Trans II's ?

Last year of the TRS drive was 1993. We recovered the drive lines out of a '88 Formula that sank a couple years ago. It had 330s with Merc trans IIs and TRS drives.

Remember if you try using the trim rams you must have a piece of wood at the top to push the top out as the rams are extending.

Here's another way I usually do. With the rams off swing the drive up some by hand and slide a piece of 1 x 1 wood or something like a heavy shovel handle in front of the drive like the guy in this video slides in a pry bar at 4min. 20 sec. (Bravo Drive)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OZr2...ature=youtu.be
Then let the drive down to rest against the wood. Now swing the drive up about 3-4 inches and let go so it falls against the wood. Drive should pop right off.

I think he posted that in the wrong thread!

In my opinion I would no way seperate the upper and lower unless it appears to be leaking gear lube between the two which they seldon ever do. It will not provide any better access to anything that would be of any help to you at this point. The drive is either hanging up on the studs as mentioned by Rbesola which you could spray down with a penetrating oil or the drive shaft is having a hard time coming out through the trans tail stock bearing. Disconnecting the trim rams and removing the 6 nuts is all you have to do to remove those drives.

I believe there Borg-Warner, when I had the one rebuilt last year I belive that's what they said, that or a velvet trans. I use Trans fluid type F, heard it was basically a ford tranny. I know for sure it's not Merc.

The bottom of the drive will come out the farthest but the top of it only comes out a little less then a half inch. I put the bolts back on the top lugs so that if it broke free it wouldn't fall on me but I can't even get it to come out enough for the bolts to catch it and there only threaded on a few times. The bottom will come off if the top would. What's wierd is the whole drive moves freely but just not all the way out.

I believe the problem is that there is corrosion between transmission carrier bearing and the splines that input into the transmission. It can be a bitc# to remove the drive, don't ask me how I know.

I had to use the wood between the lower part of the drive and assembly like in post #17 video. I had to get really aggressive bouncing the drive off of the wood.