Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

[BajaDan]

While pulling my '92 Alpha I Gen II drive in anticipation of my new 3.0L long block, I found water in the bottom of the bellows. Is it normal for some water to get in there? There is lots of old grease in there, which is a good sign. What do I need to look for if this isn't normal? Thanks in advance for your response... See posted picture below...

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

Of course it's not normal. You need a new bellows. Those should be replaced every 5 or 6 years as just preventive maintenance.

You now need a new gimbal bearing, new ujoints, possibly a new yoke going into the drive and a new input shaft seal in the drive. The rust from the water takes out the seal.

 

[BajaDan]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

My fears come true, fortunately there's a whole lot of grease on the ujoints. I may be able to salvage some of the components, clean them up and regrease. I'll post a pick of the input shaft when I get back from the office. Thanks for the info Don.

Dan

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

I may be able to salvage some of the components, clean them up and regrease.

Replace them, chances of taking apart old ujoints to clean and put back together and have them work smooth is about as good as me winning the lottery, and since I don't play the lottery, that makes it even worse.

 

[BajaDan]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

I don't play the lottery either. It's really just a tax on people who are bad at math... Thanks again for the help. I'm making a parts list now.

Regards,

Dan

 

[BajaDan]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

The boat actually sat outside without a cover and with the hull plug installed. It filled with rain water and sat for a couple of months. The coupler wasn't greased that well, but could the water have entered that way even with a good bellows?

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

It could have, but if the water got that deep, you also need a new starter.
If the bellows is the original 92 bellows, it needs replaced anyway.

 

[BajaDan]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

Yep, the starter was very rusty and took a lot of cleaning up to work. Alternator was toast which means the water was really high before the previous owner realized he left the plug in. I'll replace the bellows because I don't know the boat maintenance history. I do know the boat wasn't ever winterized very well, so it's probably the original bellows. Thanks again for the input!

Regards,

Dan

 

[dingdongs]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

does the floor have any soft spots as not all boats like being flooded out and abused.

 

[BajaDan]

Re: Alpha I Gen II water in bellows, normal?

Yes, there were some soft spots and I just recently had all the removable wood in the floors along with the carpeting replaced. New interior too $$$. The new motor is ready to go in and a local marine repair shop will do the alignment (1 hour labor), which is about the cost of the alignment tool. I had to swap the flywheel out because the new motor had the larger diameter flywheel. Anyway, it's ready to go in just waiting on my free time, which is in short supply lately. I'll probably get one weekend on the lake and then time to winterize... Ugh...