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U-joint bellows: installing the retention ring thingamajig

For the love of god, how does one slip this mofo in there? I went with an oem bellows and all else is well but I can’t even get the friggin thing started. Funny enough, YouTube usually has some redneck sitting on a bucket explaining things with a few helpful hints but every video I’ve found shows people ripping things apart but no one dares shows how it goes back together. Any tips or tricks are appreciated and my knuckles thank you.

Lube it up with dish soap and push it in by hand. Or at least thats all I've ever had to do on the several Ive done. Have seen some take a 2x6 and cut it just a tad smaller in dia and use it as a driver. Make sure its seated in the groove

The bellows has a small bulge on the outside flange that has to fit into a groove in the helmet. IF you don't have it in the groove the ring won't go in.

I did slip it over the groove. I won’t make it back to until next week but I’ll give the dish soap a try. I did find that 3” ABS pipe with a coupler on it makes a great ring driver. The pipe fits inside and the coupler is the same size as the ring.

merc rec power tune for the install and their correct install driver tool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baja Rooster (Post 4646544)

I would buy the correct install tool -- they are cheap and I sell them

Next tip for free --- a oil filter works great as well. I ll pass that tip on as I already did a couple years ago up here. Its a Ford 351 oil filter if I recall correctly that works great for the install.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUP (Post 4646570)

merc rec power tune for the install and their correct install driver tool.

Ayuh,...... Agreed,.... A quick squirt of Quicksilver Power Tune, 'n it'll slip in with finger pressure,.....

Love the stuff,..... Makes rubber super slippery, 'n evaporates really fast, lockin' things together,.....

[QUOTE=Baja Rooster;4646040]

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The bellows has two grooves on the aft side, make sure the bellows is seated in the second grove.

proper oem tools is key. without them - one is making the job 100 times harder than it needs to be. I can not stress this enough and proper OEM service manuals per that engine / drive serial numbers is just as important.

Can one image for an off the cuff example hiring a AC tech to work on your home AC without any proper AC tools nor any AC service manuals per applications. Just an example to think about when working on boats and ones down time for proper installs. I am not finger pointing here but use this info as taking a 3 to 4 hour job not turning into weeks on end for basically not a hard install for one to overcome..

Next question is where did you buy the bellows and whos bellows are you trying to install ? BY far OEM Merc has the best bellows and impellers bare none. I would pay the extra money for the MERC branded bellows if they were not. Hopefully you did not buy this from EBAY ---- those are cheap junk and some do not fit properly if they did not come in a quicksilver / merc unopened bag / box.

I did buy oem bellows from Nuwave. At least the package said quicksilver.

I was able able to borrow some proper tools and this is still the most retarded engineering to deal with. I’m sure that there’s tips the pros use and experience is everything but even with the proper tools this thing is a nightmare for the amateur.