It is normal to see exposed spline on the driveshaft when fully inserted into the coupler. Zerks are nice if you can reach them, but I still prefer to pull the drive to grease the driveshaft splines. Gives you a chance to inspect the coupler splines for wear, check alignment, check the gimbal bearing and make sure you get it properly greased, check for oil or water leaks, grease the u-joints if they are serviceable, etc.

The bellhousing diagram you have pictured is for a inboard with transmission , not for Bravo application. Go to BAM Marine website for a easy to navigate parts section. Coupler will be listed as part of crankshaft assembly.(not in bellhousing section). Good Luck!!!

All you should need is a new coupler. A lack of grease will cause the splines on the coupler to fail. The input shaft from the drive should be fine.

Merc Spline Grease has been discontinued.

Their new Extreme Grease covers many more applications including splines:

What am I going to do with my 3 boat grease guns, lol, when I'm out of each. :smile:

If you have time look back thru the archives about me having a problem getting the harbor freight grease coupling off the zerk fitting. I had to remove more parts than I wanted to just to try and get some leverage to pry it off. I believe it was a 5 or 6 Advil engagement. Now I have a NAPA adjustable fitting that works just perfect

3 pointstar

You can't catch a break with this boat can you....

Merc went to one grease now that does double duty as SB posted ------ a couple of years ago - they had 4 different greases to use in 4 different areas. ie gimbal bearing / u joint then - couple / spline grease then - 2 4 C and then -- special 101 grease and so on. Special 101 grease was one of my favorite greases for many things.

More info ----- Weak and or rotted transom and or rotted or weak stringers causes this as well for knocking out couplers.

Next the inter transom mount set up wrong with springs or without springs will knock out your coupler in hurry. I have posted this and the Merc service Bulletin a bunch of times up here for the newer inner transom mount from many years ago. Many install it wrong.

Lol I have a tube of spline grease that will last the rest of my life.

LOL. I remembered. That was brutal for you. Painfully funny for others ?

Here it is: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/d...rget-help.html

Yea, the boat is causing me some grief but I knew it would going into it, it was part of the deal I made w/ myself and I am doing a pretty good job of keeping a positive attitude (although the first hour after something bustsit hurts until I get over it, good thing I am old an tend to forget things :-) ) Unfortunately the work I want done on my other boat will take some time is it has been declared a winter project which is why I am using the AT.

I potentially now have a tough decision to make, when the engine comes out I will have my first look at the core of the transom. Is there a good way to take a deeper look into it's condition? I know sound is reasonable method, but is there any value in drilling small holes into it to take a closer look. If the transom looks like it should no longer be used, I guess I'll stop this repair and start looking into de-rigging it in preparation of getting the transom fixed...I can fix this coupler after the transom work. One thing I need is a location to store parts as I de-rig, I guess I can rent a storage locker for this, but that still leaves me with no work space. Can a lift large enough to get the engine out of the boat generally be rented. I guess I should also start building something to hold the drives. I've been looking for a work space to do all of this work that has room for the boat and it's parts, i'v had a craigs list ad running for about a month now and the only bite I have had is someone wanting to join up on renting space because he has boat work to do this winter. I also have another boat I want to do some work on. Any thoughts on where/how I might find a space, ideally I can find a low winter use barn or something.