Cant get outdrive off

[c03camson]

I am trying to take my outdrive off to inspect everything and I cant get it to come loose. Shift is in forward, trim cylinders removed, 6 bolts removed and I just cant get it to budge.

I tried sticking a piece of 2x4 in-between the outdrive and bottom of bellhousing to drop it and break it loose but nothing. Ive beat the hell out of it with a hammer and nothing.

I am reading this in the Seloc manual - "Another method is to remove the U-Joint bearing retainer as detailed in the Upper Unit Disassembly & Assembly section; the stern drive can then be removed, leaving the frozen shaft in the bell housing." Id like to see if there is anything else I can do before this. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

Merc alpha1gen2. 2003. 220hrs. Not sure when the last time any real maintenance has been done.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Ive beat the hell out of it with a hammer and nothing.

Well, forget that method. Nothing good is going to happen that way.

Put the rams back on and put a 2x4 at the top of the drive - between the drive and the transom assembly. Use the hydraulics to raise the drive. It should pop off.

 

[anymanusa]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Well, forget that method. Nothing good is going to happen that way.

Put the rams back on and put a 2x4 at the top of the drive - between the drive and the transom assembly. Use the hydraulics to raise the drive. It should pop off.

If he doesn't mind cracking the transom.

You might try heating all around the drive with a propane torch at the sealing surface. If it's stuck at that point, heat may help the cause.

 

[Don S]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

I am reading this in the Seloc manual - "Another method is to remove the U-Joint bearing retainer as detailed in the Upper Unit Disassembly & Assembly section; the stern drive can then be removed, leaving the frozen shaft in the bell housing." Id like to see if there is anything else I can do before this. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

You can not get the retainer wrench on the retainer until you get the drive off the boat.

If he doesn't mind cracking the transom.

If the 2X4 method cracks the transom, then your boat is dead to start with, along with a so corroded drive to bellhousing connection that the whole boat needs scrapped.

Besides, the 2X4 goes between the top cap of the drive and the gimbal ring (not the transom)

 

[c03camson]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

The ol' 2x4 method worked like a charm. I did notice after I took the outdrive off that the exhaust bellows had a little bit of water in the bottom of it. I have thru hull exhaust so I don't know if that bellows would be sealed off or something like that. Anyway thats for another post. Thanks for the help fellas.

 

[Don S]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

The exhaust bellows is always full of water when the boat is in the water. That is normal.
Before you do anything else, and assuming there was no water in the ujoint bellows, time to check the engine alignment. Look at the shaft that came out of the coupler. Was it dry as a bone?

 

[c03camson]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Oh ok yeah I wasn't sure about the exhaust bellows. When I took outdrive off the coupler splines were well greased and the shaft seemed dry but did have rust on it as you can see in the picture. Not sure if this is normal. Thanks

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

How was the bellows for the U-joint shaft? Any tears, any sign of water in there? You'll also want to give the gimble bearing a spin- check for any signs of corrosion on it, and make sure it spins velvety smooth. I've not seen any corrosion on my U-Joint shaft so not sure that it's at all normal.

 

[c03camson]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

The Ujoint bellows seemed to be in good shape. The boat is 7 years old so Im not sure if its the original one or not. Im going to check the gimbal bearing once I get some of that grease out of there.

Does the corroded part of the shaft sit on the gimbal bearing?

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

The corroded part pictured is open to the bilge. It looks like you have salty water splashing around in your bilge. I would suggest cleaning it off and coating with grease when you reinstall.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

The Ujoint bellows seemed to be in good shape. The boat is 7 years old so Im not sure if its the original one or not. Im going to check the gimbal bearing once I get some of that grease out of there.

Does the corroded part of the shaft sit on the gimbal bearing?

No, it does not, the crusty part is between the gimbal & coupler......
You definately had water in there at some point.....
I would inspect the gimbal bearing & u joints, if they have that kind of rust, they gottta go.....
For now, I would just clean the crust off of the input shaft, do the inspections & run it.....
You'll know right away if the gimbal or u joints need attention....

 

[c03camson]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Thanks for the input. I checked everything out and the gimbal bearing is really smooth with no play and the only part that is corroded is on the shaft so I will clean that off.

Next is going to be impeller change, check engine alignment...is there anything else??

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

the crusty part is between the gimbal & input shaft......

Actually it is between the coupler and the gimbal bearing. Inside the boat - the bilge area.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Actually it is between the coupler and the gimbal bearing. Inside the boat - the bilge area.

Yeah, the part in question is the input shaft.....:redface:
There, fixed it for ya.......

 

[snunez]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Did you have to drail oil from sterndrive before removing? I just changed oil a few weeks ago and I need to remove sterndrive.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Welcome aboard snunez!

No need to drain the oil to remove the outdrive. If you have any other issues, it will be best to start your own thread.

 

[c03camson]

Re: Cant get outdrive off

Finally got the outdrive back on today. Changed the impeller, gear lube and replaced all the gaskets and o-rings. I think the hardest part was getting the outdrive off and putting it back on. Did an ops check and all is well.

The only thing is I broke the bolt off that connects that continuity washer. It was just a little bolt and I wanted to take it off and clean all that because it was corroded. Is this a big deal??

Other than that everything went good. Thanks for the help everybody