74 searay gimble bearing

[oldray]

My 74 searay 190 w/888 is making a growling noise from the upper section of the outdrive. I believe it is a gimble bearing going out (noise is constant and doesn't get worse when the drive is turned side-to-side). My question is this; Since I don't have a zirk fitting on the gimble housing for anything but the pivot points, do I have a gimble bearing that has to be pulled and packed? Is there a grease fitting inside the boat somewhere? I thought I'd try to shoot some lube into it before pulling the drive but that is looking impossible.

 

[johnkc]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

your bearing is the sealed prelubed type ,you just replace it .there are no provisions for greasing it.

 

[oldray]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Thanks John,<br /> In my experience, getting this type of bearing to go back in straight wihtout galling can be tricky. Is there a tool I should try and purchase or rent?<br /><br />Jay

 

[johnkc]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

jay, are you sure that there is not a zerk at the 3 o'clock position if you are looking at the back of the boat on the stbd side of the transom assy. seems to me we had greasable gimbal bearing by 1974 now that i gave it some more thought.if you have the old style bearing all you need is an alignment bar to replace the bearing ,flip it sideways and remove it then reinstall and use the alignment bar to line it up with the coupler.if it ends up being the greasable type you may have a snap ring to remove,then you will need a slide hammer to get it out ,a driver assy to get it back in and an alignment bar to set it straight with the coupler .good luck.let us know how it turns out.

 

[Trent]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Take a look at this..... web page

 

[zukimud1]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

This is sort of a coincidence. I just completed the replacement of my gimble bearing on my 1974 SeaRay 190 w/the mercruiser 888 this weekend. The bearing is the greaseable type. There is a zirk fitting on the starboard side of the transom assy. for greasing the gimble bearing. To pull it I had to remove the snap ring and use a bearing puller. You also MUST have an alignment tool when installing it. Use method B in the link that Trent gave.

 

[oldray]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Zuki,

 

[oldray]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Sorry, butter fingers!<br /> That is a coincidence. However, I am definitely missing the zerk fitting on the starboard side of transom assembly, definitely missing (insert voice of Rainman). I believe that a previous owner has switched the transom assembly because... I pulled the drive today and looked at the bearing. Looks like bearing in Trent's example "A", complete with grease protruding from severeral places around the bearing. Looked to me like a bearing that had been greased not that long ago. I purchased this boat really really cheap last year with a blown head gasket. So, I have no idea how old any transom/outdrive parts are. I replaced the entire impeller assembly, lower shift cable and bellows as part of my rebuild. Now back to the bearing/howling. The bearing looks and feels new to me. The u-joints feel good and smooth to me also. What else should I check with the drive removed in an attempt to find my noise? I'll go ahead a remove/replace the gimble bearing but that brings up another issue. How am I going to lube this sucker in the future? How often does that need to happen? When I pulled the drive, I found no water in the drive bellows. There was a fair amount of grease that had been slung around. Sorry for the long post, all your help is greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Jay.

 

[rattana]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Did you check the lube in the outdrive? If the level is low, you will hear the upper bearing in the drive. When draining the outdrive oil watch for any metal particles that are suspended in the lube. The bottom plug is magnetic and any metal particles that are present will be stuck on it. Also check to see if any water is present in the oil.

 

[oldray]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Thanks,<br /> Just changed the outdrive oil the other day, I did notice a little metal slivers stuck to the drain plug. I'm sure I created those while trying to adjust the shift linkage so it would shift into gear without the grind. I cleaned out as much grease as I could and noticed that the bearing is being held in-place with a ring clip. Zuki, where did you get the replacement/alignment tools? Did you find an original style bearing or did you have to upgrade like it talks about on the link provided by Trent (thanks Trent). I don't want to just put this back together because something is causing this howling. I believe it's the gimble but I also hate shotgun approaches to fixing things. Have any of you guys that do this for a living seen a gimble that has no play, no apparent rough spots and yet still howls like a banshee?

 

[zukimud1]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

I rented the special tools from a local boat mechanic. As for the bearing, I just ordered the whole bearing assy. and stuck it in. I didn't pay attention to whether it was an upgrade or not. I had to replace the whole thing, because, like I said, my bearing was set up as in method B. It's pretty strange we have the exact same boat, and you have a totally different set up!

 

[oldray]

Re: 74 searay gimble bearing

Thanks for all your help. Turns out I have a bad set of drive shaft bearings in the upper unit. With all the talk of tools, shims, backlash and gear height adjustments... I'm paying the local shop to get this right.