Neighbor took his Wellcraft in to get it winterized and when they pulled the drive off the transom assembly was completely destroyed from corrosion. Gimbal Bearing is completely frozen and the entire thing is a rusty nightmare. Boat is only about 5 or 6 years old and has never been in salt before this summer - I couldn't fathom how it could be as bad as it was.

Long story short they gave him an estimate of 7,500 dollars with 40 hours worth of labor. I told him to bring the boat home immediately. I found this entire assembly completely assembled for 2700 and thought we could do it ourselves in about a day http://www.marinepowerservice.com/Bo...ctID/23507.cfm

Is it safe to assume that these assemblies are going to be remarkably similar to the Bravos on my boat? Anything in particular that I need to be aware of that we need to plan for before hand? Any special tools that anyone can think of other than an alignment tool?

Much easier then a Bravo. The bearing and shaft are self aligning (as far as I know) and the ring and seal that hold them in are a pretty slick assembly. I have done complete Volvo gimbal swaps in a single day without pulling the engine. Very well designed and thought out.

I wondered if I could just take the weight off the engine, and leave the inner transom plate exactly where it is - unbolt the old, and bolt the new one in. Since it is a single engine application there is TONS of room to get to the bolts....

That's pretty much what I did. I put a small bottle jack under the motor and just took the weight off. Whole thing went fairly easy.

Question......Do you use different anodes for salt vs fresh water?
Just curious

Good question - this guy doesn't keep the boat in the water, but it was kept in the water a fair amount when it was on the lake. I think that some of what we are seeing is electrolosis based corrosion...

If it was delivered as a freshie it should have had what are they, titanium or aluminum or something "zincs". I have heard that those do not do well in salt, may even contribute to electrolosis..??

Regardless, not a hard swap as has been pointed out..

There was a service bulliten recently from volvo that is a recall due to bellows failure. Caused gimbal to seize and destroyed the transom assyl. It is on the volvo web site. This very weell might help you out. Let me know if you need anything. I am a volvo dealer.

Hey SVL - Can you shoot me a copy of that or a link to it. I am either blind or a dumbass, or both, but I can't find it on the Volvo website.

congrats.........admitting it is the first step