Pulled the drives on the Mach 34, was only going to pull the starboard which had big shavings in the oil, but thought better pull the other as well. Good thing I did there was water in the bellows, some minor rust on the "U" joint, the gimbal bearing has catches, I looked at the bellow and it doesn't appear to be leaking, but hard to tell with all the grease and crud, the thing I did notice was that the water port was not plugged as it was on the other side? The boat has through hull pickups and the water is supposed to come up thruough side pick up and dump out the side. Is the water port not plugged the problem or the bellows?

bellows

Should the water passage be plugged or does it matter? Never put a gimbal bearing or bellows in, should I do it myself or let a pro do it?

unless you have the tools and exp you should let some one that has done it a couple of hundred times do it........


if not could leak worse or the new bearing could sieze if not installed properly


labor for that repair should be around 600.00 give or take a little

I would also get the drive press and vac tested alot of times when water is present in the bellows it will blow out the upper seal ( its designed to keep oil in not water out, single lip seal )


as for the water port plugged im guessing you are talking about the exaust ports on the sides of the transom assy....

never seen them plugged the only thing I can think of is you lost an exaust flapper and its blocking it but still wouldnt caust the water in the bellows

Joe the "hole" that I see is one that is about 1" and is threaded, it is to the left of the bellows. The only thing I can think that it is would be where the fitting for water intake which I do not have. I can't understand why one would be plugged with a hexed fitting and the other not. I will heed your advice about getting a pro to do it. I have Imco boxes if that makes a difference.

Possibly the water inlet is capped from the inside. Gotta have some type of plug.

I'll go up to the garage and look!

Do you have sea stainers with through hull pick ups??????

if so nothing to worry about they just capped it off

Do have sea strainers, the water intake is capped off inside on both sides, the one side had water in the drive box. I guess the smart thing to do is cap it off and replace the bellows.

so were on the same page are we talking trs or bravos or somthing else. the u-joint bellows retail from merc for around 80.00 and the gimbal bearing retails from merc for around 50.00. as for doing it yourself it really isnt that hard and all the tools needed can be bought for less than 50.00 hell napa is even letting guys borrow the tools. i would just want to be sure it is the bellows i would also have concern about the u-joint cross`s