Not so good vibrations ,1989 4.3 liter Cobra

So for the first time in my life, I decided to get a slip instead of always trailering. Going solo it makes things easier.
The creek I slip in has a few hidden rocks and of course I found a few, that's the price of learning.
After a few trips I noticed a vibration in the boat that had not been there before and if became stronger to the point where I worried. So I pulled the boat and put it on the trailer. There I found out that the exhaust bellow had popped loose, so I stuck it back into its place hoping that it would solve the vibrations, but to make sure, I looked in the OMC manual chapter dealing dealing with bellows. There it mentions a snap ring that needs to be inserted on the outside end. I ordered the snapring and installed it, but with the back end off I saw a bit of water in the drive shaft bellow. So I got a new one and installed it. There were a few pinholes in the old one that would have been fine If I would just trailer ,but being slipped, the holes were enough to slowly fill the driveshaft bellow. Before putting the back end back on I put some grease in the universal joints and as I pushed it in some water came out of the universal joints.Does water being pushed out by grease mean that there is enough play in the joints to cause these vibrations or is having replaced the damaged and bent propeller the ticket?

You should have changed the gimbal bearing. If water got into the joints it is in the bearing also. There is a good chance water is in the drive unit also

kenny nunez said:

You should have changed the gimbal bearing. If water got into the joints it is in the bearing also. There is a good chance water is in the drive unit also

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I did suspect the gimbal bearing but when I greased it up, only clean grease was pushed out. It is, however on my agenda for when I winterize. I had not thought about water in the drive unit. I will drain and replace all the oil in there. Thanks for that tip.