TRS drive won't come off!!
 

I'm taking my drives off to repaint them over the winter. The port drive has been off last year when the tranny was rebuilt(least that's what they told me) and the starboard side I have to no clue when its been off last. So I started with the starboard side got everything off, the rams, external steering basically its just hanging freely right now. Transmissions are in neutral, not that it matters, all six bolts are off and I got the drive to move about 1/2 off but no more after that. I've tried prying and pulling and prying and pulling, it moves freely which is wierd but it won't move any farther out then what it is. I'm not sure how much more the housing and drive can take of me trying to get it off.

Any suggestions.

The only thing there is besides the lines to the rams, rams and 6 bolts is a small ground wire for the mercathode that goes from the bell housing to the upper.
In a moment, I will send a picture up to show you what the upper side that meets the bell housing looks like.
There is a friction connection between for the drive reservoir...but that should not provide any resistance. It is a small pin going into a seal on the bell side.
Did you disconnect the bellow?

^^
Just stripped my TRS's. 6 nuts, the trim-ram pin and the exh bellow if it hasnt already fallen off. Theyll come with some persuasion. I had quite a bit of corrosion between the stainless studs and aluminum housing.Maybe soak them with Kroil

Im suprised a 1988 Formula doesnt have a Bravo 1 drive.

How big of a space can you get between the drive and bell housing. Something you can try is use a block of wood at the top of the drive between the drive top and transom assembly. Watch how this guy does it in this vid however it is a bravo drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZibn...ature=youtu.be
Another way is to put a block of wood at the top and with your trim cylinders connected extend them to push it off.

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Me...ES)/parts.html

I pay far less for these parts....but now you have a better resource.

Image sux, but it is an easy job. My first one took about two hours.....now I can do one faster than I can box it up and ship it out....:whistle:

maybe the splines on the shaft are twisted in the tranny input? I once had the same trouble can't remember why... had to unbolt tranny from engine, move engine forward, then was able to move tranny forward to let the drive free... corrosion was also a fact that did not help...

most likely has 420 motors .thats what they put behind them in 88 they didnt feel the bravos would last

Didn't disconnect the bellow, I read on another thread that if need be I could tear it apart and disconnect the yoke to get the drive off, but still have to deal with the stuck spline.

That guy makes it look way to easy, I'll try the 4X4 block tomorrow and if that dosen't work then I'll hook the rams back up and try letting the trim do the work. Although using the trim rams kind of scares me, seems like it shouldn't be this hard.

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.

Finally

Well the 4X4 didn't work, at least not by hand like the video on YouTube. It just doesn't lay in there like a bravo. It will wedge in there but ill have to use the rams to slowly wedge it in and hopefully force it out.

Did you try the other way I explaned in post #17 using a 1" x 1" about 15" long? That way usually works well. As Rookie said you may have to get aggresive with it bouncing it on the wood.

I agree, theres nothing there but the splines and they must be twisted just enough -

I tried putting wood there, I've tried putting it everywhere. I don't know what you mean by aggresive but I can probably get a little more abusive with it.

I wonder if the rear bearing spun and welded itself on the yoke shaft - There is a snap-ring holding the bearing in the tail shaft but I dont' thing you can get to it when the motor/trans is in

PS - I have a spare TRS LH drive for sale if needed

Here's what I've got so far. The bottom on some of the pics goes out as far as the top of the stud and the top of the drive never hits the nuts that I barely have threaded on to keep the drive from falling when I yank the chit out of it. I tried the wood thing, at least I think I have so I took a pic of where I think the wood would go. Obvious the 4X4 goes on top so I'll try that when I can have someone trim up the motors while I carefully inspect.

Note: Last year when the tranny came out for a rebuild on the other drive, the guys never said anything about having trouble with getting the drive off.

Yes you have the wood in there correctly. Assume you dropped it from 4-5 inches several times against the wood.

Here's something else you could try. Get a nylon tow strap with the loops in the ends. Wrap it over the top of the drive and connect the loops to a pick up preferably one with hooks on the front so you can watch whats going on. With a little slack in the strap hit the gas for a second and just let the rolling weight tighten the strap and give it a pop.
OR
Get a come-a-long and connect it in the same fashion with a tow strap and crank it down and see what happens.

It needs to come off the studs fairly straight or it will get in a bind on the studs which could be whats going on.

The drive shaft is pretty much centered between the 2 top studs so thats where you need to be pulling mostly, obviously.

I had a drive stuck before in a merc II trans . Rusted yoke to the bearing. I finally put a come along on it and cranked the crap out of it and it was still stuck on. Left to go to dinner out of frustration with all the tension still on it, thought I might have cut the tail stock in half some how. When I came back it was lying on the floor. Good luck.

Got my dad coming over this weekend, so I'm going to try all those ideas then. I forgot about the come along idea, only problem is my boat is sitting where there is nothing to fasten the other end to so I'll have to do some rearranging. I'll keep you guys posted.

Why would it come out some but not all? If it was siezed up wouldn't it not move out at all?

Drives
 

Mine did the same exact thing. I sent you a pm. I had to pull my motor and tranny together then the drive slipped right off. No corrosion no rust, something was binding up still haven't figured out what the problem was.

Work it in and out as much as possible. Push it in the drive and drop it on wood. Put smaller piece wood at the bottom studs for more leverage and repeat process. It took me about 2 hours to get mine off.:eekdrop:

Oreo is right same thing happened to a buddy of mine,I forget how he got his Trs off :lolhit:but I will see him this weekend and let you know.

A pure stab in the dark here, but have you loostened your two main tailstock bolts? In the past I've had to shim between the tailstock and inner transom plate portion of where the tailstock sits in order to get perfect allignment. If you dont have perfect allignment and the tailstock bolts are torqued down, that could put the input shaft on a major bind. Again, just a shot in the dark.

Where exactly around Deleware do you live?

you might want to check your motor mounts for sagging if it is grossly out of line it could be in a bind. also if it is a trs trans there is a spring on end of yoke ive seen them get hung up!!

Rust on the shaft. If it were siezed I wouldn't think it woud come out at all.

Here's a diagram of what your working with inside there.
http://www.perfprotech.com/mercruise...9/39?model=882

The shaft is supported entirely with in the tail stock by the rear bearing #14 and front bearing #13, and the splines engage in the coupler #6. With this in mind I couldn't see any way the shaft could be put in a bind due to the tailstock motor mounts. Then as the shaft comes out of the trans tailstock you have 2 sets of u-joints to accomadate any angle the drive may encounter, left-right-up-down.

Two sets of U joints do not change one centerline. The drive bolts to the gimble and the gimble is ultimately attached to the transom. The motor/trans/tailstock are not. I can tell you from experience that if the engine/trans/tailstock are not perfectly alligned with the gimble, then a TRS allignment tool will show it.

Not saying this is the problem for the original poster. But it was on both sides of my Cigarette.

Maybe you could pull the rear cover from drive, remove pinion nut & pull drive leaving the drive shaft. maybe???? just a thought, then remove the shaft.

No doubt that if the engine/trans isn't aligned with the bell housing it's going to show it with the tool, that's it's purpose. I was merely stateing beings the shaft is suported on both ends within the tailstock there's no way to put it in a bind and the u-joints would keep it from binding if alignment was off some let alone needing to be PERFECTLY ALIGNED or you could have MAJOR BINDING. As far as the bolts being torqued or loosened I can't see it making any difference to a 800lb. engine and tranny sitting there on it's mounts.

I'm just north of Delaware, same road that Buckeye Valley School sits on.

I haven't gotten totally agressive with this quite yet, just the prying and droping on a piece of wood wedge in between the gimbal housing and drive. I haven't used the rams or a come along so as far as I know I may not be persistant enough with it. This weekend will be my last chance, if I can't get it off then it's going to someone else, I don't have the knowledge, resources, or time to f with the tranny and motor.