Mercruiser Gimbal Bearing
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Mercruiser Gimbal Bearing
I have 2008 Merc B3 Seacore drives with the 496 HO engines in my Formula SS350 and I recently had my marina replace a loud gimbal bearing. I studied the drive and found that the grease fitting, which still has anifouling paint on it from when new, seems to me has never been greased. I brought this up to the marina and said that my guess would be it failed due to lack of proper maintenance. They kind of got snotty with me a claim that even though there is a grease fitting, they do not get greased because they are permanently lubricated.
Could this be true? Why would there still be a fitting?
Could this be true? Why would there still be a fitting?
#2
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Yes, the newer bearings are perma-lube. Not sure when they changed. Do you have the old bearing? New style bearing has a white dot. It is entirely possible that the casting has a grease fitting event though it has new bearing.
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www.mercruiserparts.com
www.go-fast.com
www.bammarine.com
www.cyborgtransmissions.com
It's not alive -www.BoatStuffExpress.com - temporarily retired
#3
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That uses the same bearing as my TRS uses in the trans tailstock. They changed to the sealed type bearing. When you buy a new one a plug comes with it to replace the grease fitting if you wish to. I quess so no one tries to put grease into it.
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Wow, I am not crazy about that. In all the years I have had Mercruiser outdrives, I have never had a gimbal bearing go bad, but I also religiously greased them.
Three year old boat with 70 hours and the bearing goes is
Three year old boat with 70 hours and the bearing goes is
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As long as there is no water entering into the bellows area.... AND, you pull the drive to inspect alignment and re-grease the splines, the gimbal bearing should last along time. Ditto for non-greasable u-joints too!!! BTW, theer is no reason.... to have a non-greasable bearing installed in the hsg but a zerc fitting on the outside of the transom bracket... that's just lazy people....