A question for all you pro's out there. I need to remove my drive for a couple reasons. The first is that I need to separate the upper and lower in order to replace the propshaft as well as inspect the vertical shaft for twisted splines. Is this procedure pretty simple and what special tools or equipment do I need?

Secondly, what's the procedure for taking off the upper and getting to the u-joints in order to grease them? Anything special I need to look for or do prior to opening the toolbox?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

REmoving frive is easy. Remove trim cylinder bolt, Unhook speedometer cable, then remove six nuts holding drive on, then slowly remove drive a few inches then reach behind drive and unhook the shift cable. Once released, grab the drive shaft as you pull the drive out to avoid having the u-joints damage the bellows.
You can grease the u-joints once the drive is off and should not need to seperate anything. If you don't have a stand of some sort built, an extra set of hands will help.

olemissalum,

thanks for the info! I need to separate upper and lower to replace the propshaft and to inspect the vertical shaft for twist as the propshaft is currently twisted.

anyone else have suggestions or pointers?

IF YOU WANT ME TO DO IT JUST BOX IT UP AND I WILL TURN IT IN A DAY AND SEND IT BACK SEE YA CHARLIE

Hey Charlie,

I didn't forget about you....have at least got the darned thing drained. Am heading over tonight after work to drop it and will hopefully get a chance to make sure all is going to work

I'm not a mechanic by any stretch but I do like to tinker and I don't want to get in trouble doing something that I'm not familiar with. I do know enough that things get expensive quick if you screw something up so that's why I want to make certain I know what I'm doing.

You should drop the bottom half while the drive is still on the boat. Replace the prop shaft, etc then reinstall. Then remove the entire drive (as stated above), service the u joints and check engine alignment.

BT

You will need several specialty tools to reassemble the lower. Carrier nut wrench, backlash checker, pinion height checker, drive shaft adapter, dial indicator and carrier puller. Not to mention bearing race pullers to reshim. These all needed if the drive shaft (verticle shaft) needs replaced.
Other wise just the carrier puller and carrier nut wrench. The pinion height and backlash should not to be readjusted, providing done correctly from the factory. (One of mine had way to much backlash since new, so not always a garanteed thing.)
Depending on wether it has a trust ring or shims that just gets torqed to 150 ft lbs, may need an In. Lb. torque wrench that will read down to 5 in. lbs. I just redid both of my lowers last month and made all the tools myself. (Tool and Die Maker)
Not really difficult if you know what you are doing. Just takes time to do it right.

carrier wrench:

assembly tools:
The carrier puller and large propshaft gear race installer are not shown.

Thanks for the info US1. I'm not planning on taking the lower apart. Unless the vertical shaft needs to be replaced. If it does, I will just take it to a certified Merc. technician as I don't have the tools and am not comfortable with re-assembly.

Another question for everyone......do I need new gaskets for everything or can they be re-used? A friend told me that I need the gasket set that seals the lower and upper together, the gaskets for the upper to the gimbal/housing, and something for the propshaft seals? Anyway....he said it's going to cost $135 for gaskets? I was a little shocked.....do I need them if all of the old gaskets are in good shape?

There are no gaskets, just o-rings. There are only 4 at the lower to upper joint. Speedo, water supply, oil passage, and driveshaft. There is a "Bravo 1 install" kit that will containg the o-rings for the upper to bellhousing. It is really cheap. West Marine carries that kit in the Quicksilver packaging for $10.
For the most part, o-rings don't wear out. Just dry out and loose their sealing capabilty. I replaced mine just because of the insurance factor. The old ones looked and felt as good as the new ones did. I would at least replace the small oil passage o-ring since it is a bit different. You can buy just the few you need from BAM. That would be my recommendation since you are only looking at a few bucks for a peice of mind. Also, replace the 2 oil seals on the prop shaft and the large o-ring at the carrier. If you have the crush ring, that will need to be replaced also with new.
The $135 is for a complete set which will have a few extras for more than 1 application.