I need to replace my driveshaft bellow on my drive and was reading that you are suppose to use bellow glue when installing the bellow. After further reading I found that some people only use it as a precaution to make sure that the bellow doesn't come off when reinstalling the drive. While others say that it will be okay without the glue as long as you make sure it doesn't get bumped off when installing and make sure that the clamps are on tight.

Do I need to get the glue for the bellow or will I be okay if I just make sure that it is clamped on tight and there is no gaps?

Last time I did the shifter bellow I used the glue...it's scary enough knowing that a $5 piece of rubber keeps your boat floating.

it is way more important to make sure the flange you are installing the bellows on is 100 % perfectly clean and no peeling paint. Also a quality bellows is important.

My setup has a transmission so i don't have a shift bellow. But i do wish the driveshaft bellow cost $5.

I'll see if the boat store has the bellow glue tomorrow and if they don't just make sure everything is clean and goes on smoothly and check it as soon as I get the boat in the water.

I think the bellow kit is roughly $100 but it probably costs merc $5 to make...that was my point.

FYI..use real bellows, not the cheap ebay crap..... they are NOT the same. I have had a cheapo fail in LESS than a season.

The bellow I got from my boat store cost about $110. And I wouldn't trust buying online for parts like that especially since my drive is very outdated and hard to find parts.

You can use 3M Weather strip adhesive which is available at auto parts stores. Pretty much the same thing.

+1..ate my words....same thing the merc stuff is a little darker..