Mercruiser Stern Drive stuck 1 inch before going back into housing.

[Cheech75]

Hi, 1982 Sea Ray 19ft 4cyl 470 engine.

This boat sat out of water for 10 years , After purchased it, I put it into the lake , got the engine running , ran ok for about 1/2 hr. then i noticed the temp gauge slowly go towards the end of the green scale, as well as left and right turns , tilt leg all the way down made for some changing horrible noise's.

I decided to replace the impeller , and all went ok, put the temp gauge now stays about a 1/4 up into the green.

So now I decided to replace the gimbal bearing , wow it was a task, as the leg was really stuck, after two days I finally got the leg out, the gimbal bearing came out with the leg, attached and seized onto the shaft, it had to be cut off the shaft.
I noticed the two rubber O rings was not on the shaft after the bearing was cut off , was O rings left off for a reason or by mistake?

Cleaned up the shaft really well , slid the gimbal up all the way with out the O ring's with no problem, just to make sure it would go to where it is suppose to ride, the took it back off the shaft.
So then I installed the two new rubber seals( vibration dampers) that was missing, installed a new seal first that goes in front of the gimbal bearing , installed new gimbal bearing, greased the u joints as they are still in very good shape, changed the O ring water seal, kept the shift lever in forward drive position from the very beginning before anything was taken apart, as well as the prop turned counter clockwise and locked in forward gear with bungee cords so it could not slip out of forward gear. as well as the two shift mechanisms in the proper forward positions

Everything was now ready to just slide back in and bolt back up.
NOPE, for the rest of the day I tried and tried but every time the leg would get with in 1 inch or so away from all the way in , a dead stop no matter how hard i pushed and jiggled it to go the last inch, it just will not go in.
is it possible thats why those two rubber O rings was left off perhaps on purpose ????

What is the problem ??? Im ready to put a thick board against the leg and whack it very hard with a huge sledge hammer.
ANY SUGGESTIONS, BEFORE I DO THAT.
THANKS

 

[Stinnett21]

You didn't mention anything about checking alignment. If it's miss-aligned, won't want to come out or in.

 

[Bt Doctur]

There is no need to kick ,bang, hit to install a drive, with everything correct you can push it on to within a 1/8 inch
So STOP IT

What tool did you use to install the bearing, did you install it all the way untill seated?
Did you use an alignment bar to align the bearing to the coupler?

 

[Rick Stephens]

The other possible cause is a lot of grease in the drive shaft o-ring grooves. This makes them stick out too far to go through the gimbal bearing.

Rick

 

[Scott06]

The other possible cause is a lot of grease in the drive shaft o-ring grooves. This makes them stick out too far to go through the gimbal bearing.

Rick

I’ve had this plus a bunch of grease in the coupler from checking alignment make the last inch harder, but never had use use anything more than a 3/8 drive ratchet to snug it home .

 

[Cheech75]

Hmm, my bad, I read the replies of what tool i was suppose to have and use (for alignment ) and what I was suppose to do and not do, however all too late. Yes it is in, but not without 10 super heavy sledge hammer hits cushioned some what by a 2x4 placed between the hits and the top of gear housing which persuaded the leg to go in about a 3/8 inch from home, then i tightened the six nuts evenly to get it home. WAS happy at first until I started the engine running on water muffs, with the leg in straight forward position, all seems well, runs with no abnormal noise , but left turn or right turn gives much clattering, very similar to the sound of bad U joints on a automobile. As for the gimbal bearing being installed all the way home, sure hope it is, I kinda remember the different sound when a bearing hits home.
However the u joints was inspected and are 100% functional, not worn, no tight spots in any movement, so I greased both joints plentiful and decided both are good to go.

So whats going to happen if I use the boat as is now, wipe out the new gimbal bearing, which I would not mind doing again, but no way do I want to pull the engine to replace the engine couple. Why wasn't the couple already trashed if the alignment had not been correct for who knows how long when the boat was in use.
Well i should have stayed home a hour longer to read the replies before heading out with my persuader.
I'm sure you fellows have done this work many times, a first time for me, perhaps i'll get it right the second time out.

Thanks fellows.

 

[telstar1]

Your engine alignment may or may not be ok but for sure your new gimbal bearing will not be aligned in the carrier so its pointing precisely at engine. Thats why it was so hard to get on I think.Its a stiff fit in the carrier you need an alignment bar to get it right.Now that its on,running it might persuade the bearing to shift in carrier Im not sure.Basically the shaft is binding in the bearing and when you steer the shaft has to slide in and out and it doesnt want to do that because its binding.Thats the noise:its pullingon the bearing and loading up the u joints.

 

[achris]

... Yes it is in, but not without 10 super heavy sledge hammer hits cushioned some what by a 2x4 placed between the hits and the top of gear housing which persuaded the leg to go in about a 3/8 inch from home, then i tightened the six nuts evenly to get it home. ....

:facepalm:

Pull the drive, pull the engine.

Replace gimbal bearing, uni joints, engine coupler. Anything else that was bent/smashed with your 'Wreck-it Ralph' technique.

It's also possible you have damaged the crankshaft thrust bearings in the engine. And maybe even distorted the drive shaft housing of the drive....

You might also have been extraordinarily lucky and damaged nothing, but that's not what my money's on.

Chris......

 

[telstar1]

I recently put a sierra gimbal bearing in backwards.Its a long story. There is no radius on the backside of the bearing,on the hole, and the o ring simply will not start into the bearing. This happens just about the time you can maybe start the 6 nuts on.1/2 to 3/4 inch out.Not sure if you put bearing in right way?

 

[Bt Doctur]

The sound you hear is the U joint slapping the gimbal bearing from not being fully seated in the housing. What did you use to install the bearing?

DO NOT PRY THE DRIVE OFF
There some tricks for removal , there are tools you can make to install the bearing and not damage it.
Correctly installed you push the drive on to withing an 1/8 inch

So whats going to happen if I use the boat as is now, wipe out the new gimbal bearing,

worst case, explode the U joint and wipe the transom housing, and maybe sink for taking on more water your bilge pump can handle when the bellows shred from the scrapnel

 

[Cheech75]

I'm convinced its definitely all a do over, I ordered the alignment shaft tool with the gimbal bearing and seal installer adapters , as well as another brand new sierra gimbal bearing, housing gasket, O-ring water seal, two rubber O-rings which was originally missing from the two groves on the drive shaft that help dampen gimbal bearing vibrations.
Hope I have better luck the second time out doing this task again. if not my newest interest will be short lived and will be headed for the bottom of lake mead.

 

[johnzonh]

The other thing I don't know if anyone mentioned is making sure that the splines are aligned before you decide to slam it in...ie if you have to rotate the prop slightly when in forward gear to line them up. There are a LOT of videos out there and suggestions on rectifying that last '1 inch' problem before you bash the drive into the coupler and bend some stuff. Sometimes that is all that is needed. Good luck

 

[QBhoy]

Is the gear linkage tab sliding into place at the guide insert and did you leave it in forward gear when you removed it ?