Greasing the lower unit/drive components
 

Ok...I'm not an expert when it comes to outdrives so I thought I would ask those that know. I was just curious if someone could tell me where the grease is going when I grease the gimbal housing on the back of the boat? There are 2 zurks, one is on the outdrive itself, the other is on the housing. Also, I noticed in my viewing that there is a zurk on the inside of the engine compartment on the shaft that goes through the transom......how much/how often should I be greasing these and are there any other places I should check periodically to ensure good preventative maintenance?

Thanks for the help,
Dave

The top center fitting is for the upper steering shaft bearing. couple shots is good.

On the top one, excess grease will sit on top of the tiller arm open to the inside of the boat at the top of the transom plate. Excess grease to the gimbal bearing will go inside the u-joint bellows (no problem). Excess grease to the coupler (drive shaft inside) will spray all over the back of your engine compartment.

Perfect! Thanks for the replies everyone! I just want to make sure everything is lubed up well enough. And besides...if a little excess grease flies around in the engine compartment, what the heck, we're all usually cleaning anyway right?!!!

Thanks again for the replies!

Mercruiser recommends a special grease for the drive spline. You can get it from a dealer or use Sierra's drive spline grease.(Around $5.00 a tube) I'm not sure, but I think it is more resistant to water.

There is a service bullitin out on the subject from Mercruiser. It specifies that this special grease is the only grease that should be used on the drive spline.