bravo assembly. (thanx to Mr Mr.Gadget and JF fellow OSO members) I filled my new drive yesterday and i Didi it like many suggested as pump it in from the bottom; wait till the oil comes out the upper hole; put screw in and keep filling till the bottle is at the upper line. Check the next day after that air bubble work their way out. I Just got back from the first splash and i am leaking lube.The lube came up into the reservoir yesterday and didn't leak. The hose for the reservoir is now not connected. i cannot see the hose end on the inside of the upper drive assembly. The manual says it is necessary to remove assembly to put the hose back on!! Is this true? Is there a trick to getting it on with out total disassembly?

If you talking about the lube hose that connects the from the bellhousing to the transom plate, yes it can be intalled without teardown but it is a pain in the a$$. I have used a long pair of needle nose plier to do it a few times and struggled for an hour or so before I got it but it beats tearing the whole thing down, Whe you filled the drive did you remove the cap from the lube monitor? Also you need to fill the drive slowly so you don't create too much pressure or it will blow that hose off. The ID of that hose is tiny and you can pump fluid in much faster then it can travel through that hose. You filled it the right way you may of just pumped too fast or left the cap on.

I some how ended up breaking the push lock nipple off. I put a close nipple 1/8 NPT with a female 5/16 puch lock nipple in there instead. It brings the hose nd out a littel and makes it easier to put the res hose on. the whole setup took less than a hour incluidng a trip to the hardware store.

Lookin Good!!

Watch how that hose is routed so it's not getting caught on the drive shaft. This is such a common problem that merc actually has a service bulletin out show how run the hose.

thanx and i have it handled; but i do not know why it broke the first time?? it dose not interfere with any thing else down there but i am going for another ride today andi will see if it happens again.

BRRRR it is only going to be 45 here today and with a 70-80 mph wind that will be cold>>>>>>>

When I repowered recently, that funky little plastic fitting got bumped when the motor was installed, and it cracked.
I too had lube leaking in the bilge.
In my boat, it is VERY hard to get to. I had to take it in to the shop to fix it from one of their young mechanics that can form into a pretzel.

That plastic thing is cheesy.

you should never fill the drive the way you did. yes pulling the top plug and filling from the bottom is right but you should just have stopped their and not continued filling. you should then go in and fill the bottle from inside. when you did that it filled the entire drive housing with oil and then you filled the bottle because the hose is small and the fluid had more room to fill the drive which then ends up being overfilled and caused to much pressure in the drive causing the fitting to crack or the lube bottle to explode which ever is weaker.