Painting drives, can I hang them?
 

I need to paint my outdrives and was wondering what was the best way to get them covered.

Option 1 - I'm not painting the top caps because my drive showers cover the caps anyway. I can set them upside down on the top cap and get 360 coverage on the rest of the drive.

Option 2 - I was thinking of swapping 2 top cap bolts with eyebolts and hanging them from the garage ceiling. I'd definitely be able to get all the way around them, and could even put a swivel in the rope it would hang from.

Questions - Is it safe to hang them from the eye bolts through the top cap? I'm not sure of the stress of the weight of the the drive on the threads.

Is it safe to rest the drive upside down on the top cap?

Is there a better/safer way??

Bill, the way I do mine is on an engine stand which works really well. The other suggestion would be the way you mentioned through the top of the cap. You can use a tie down strap to hook it through and attach to an engine hoist or whatever you may have to support the weight.

I like to use the engine stand method to rotate upside down for a better job. Stan.

....
 

Not sure what drive's your painting but this should
work fine for you.

5 plus years ago when I re-did some Bravo's.
I ran a Nylon rope through the U-joint coupler.

From there I went to my hook in the ceiling
and back down to the stainless pin that slides
through the tail end of the drive where your hydraulics
hook up.

This way you can get them hanging nice and level.

Happy Painting.
Cougarman

Hang it from the U-joint.