Trolling with outdrive in up position??
 

When going in and out of shallow areas, I tend to troll with the outdrive in the all up or almost all up position. I read a comment in a thread stating this ruined the guys universal. Is this correct? How much of a toll does it take on the universal?? Thanks in advance for your thoughts??

Run the trim up till the limit switch is active while on the trailer. You will probably see that the leading edge of the drive will hit something before the prop does. A little past limit switch should be ok at idle speed.

Years ago, when I had a scarab w/alpha's I tried this once, just once. The U joint bound and tried to throw the drive off the back. Lesson learned.

The u-joints are at a (slightly more) angle tilted up than in a hard turn. Not the problem though. The problem is when the drive is stored for an extended period of time in the up position (full trailer), the u-joint bellows may become stiff and take a set. If the drive is not lowered completely at the launch ramp, (lowered only a small amount) the stiff bellows may temporarily kink, contact the spinning u-joints, cut a hole in the bellows, and sink the boat.
After a few minutes of running the boat, the bellows will become flexible again and it isn't a problem. Never run the boat (for the first few minutes after launching) with the drive tilted high.
A good reason why you should store your boat with the drive in the down position and straight.
Dennis Moore
Mercruiser Master Tech
www.mooreperformance.org

Thanks Dennis!!! You make a good point that the universal is angled when in a turn just as it is angled when in the upward position. So I should be Ok when around the shallow ares. As for storage. I have always stored it in the down position for just the reason you stated. Thank you again for your time!!!