More than a shift cable......Much more

[Regal202]

Hey all,

I just tore into my first outdrive, with the help of all you guy. Thanks for the info. Well this all started with a rough shift and moved to..it dies when you try to put it in gear. So after all the reading and help from the BEST fourm. I decided I could replace the lower shift cable. Well I dropped the outdrive and found that the bellow was torn and the shaft and u-joint was rusted along with a not so smooth gimble bearing.
So I would like to know what else shoul I look for and how hard is it to replace the shaft and u-joints and gimble, any special tools? and am I over my head? I can turn wrenches on a truck so I think I can do it, but I'm a little worried about starting something and getting lost.

Merc 4.3L with an AlphaOne Gen II
Ser # (on top ?) OD866884
Ser# ( on bottom, side ) OD795004
Here are the pic's ( Don't know how to put therm in the thread yet..Can anyone help with that also?)

http://picasaweb.google.com/Snn1108/OutDriveRepair?authkey=Zs9Ddn4z9xY

 

[Regal202]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

Is ther a kit for this type of thing?

 

[Don S]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

There are bellows kits, called transom seal kits, but they don't have the items for the ujoint repair.
I always pull the upper apart and replace the seal and usually the yoke going into the bearings. The yoke gets rusty and wears the seal out and can allow water into your drive. So it MUST be fixed.
The bellows, and shift cable are just a real pain to do. But do-able have bandaids, and expletive deletive dictionary handy, you will use them all.

Now, the real trick is reading the OEM service manual and understanding what you have to do before you dive into it.
Here is a link to that manual. Happy reading!

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/14/14cover.pdf

About 25 MB in size.

 

[Regal202]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

Don .... Are you saying I dont have to replace the whole drive just the yoke and u--joints? I found A replacement shaft (PN# 20850 ) for $305.95 is this typ.? My wife is crying now we've had the boat for a week!

 

[Don S]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

You may not have to replace the yoke! Impossible to say without looking at it, but no, you do not have to replace the whole drive. That's crazy.
Not sure what a 20850 shaft is, got a link to what you are looking at? that would sure help.

 

[Regal202]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

Woo Hoo!
Here is what I was looking at... http://www.sterndrive.info/sterndriveparts/socket_u_joint_yoke_assembly.html

Did you see the pic's of the drive http://picasaweb.google.com/Snn1108/OutDriveRepair/photo?authkey=Zs9Ddn4z9xY#5227073249496853298

 

[Don S]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

Yes, I looked at your pictures. I'm going to post a picture here explaining some things, be back in a few minutes.

 

[Don S]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

In the picture below, you need 2 item #12's, the ujoints, and POSSIBLEY if it is rusty and grooved enough, item #10 along with replacing the seals and resetting rolling torgue and a number of other repair steps to get it done correctly. The manual will help you understand how to change all of it.

 

[fastinated]

Re: More than a shift cable......Much more

I can feel your pain. I bought my boat 12 years ago. Took it out 1 time and got home and nothing but salt water in the drive. Bellows went bad and took out the seal. Rather than a new shaft I brought the assembly with bearing to a shop and they sent the bare shaft to a machine shop. They called it flame spray or something. Basically I think they welded the bad part where the seal touches and machined it back to the proper diameter with a lathe. That's been over a decade and no problems. I take the drive off in the winter to keep it out of the elements and out of theives hands (metal prices these days!). Check a machine shop. And since no bearings or gears were replaced it used the same shims. So I could have brought the machine shop my bare shaft myself. But looking in the manual I thought it had to be checked for shim sizes. OH yeah it costed like $100 back then for all the work.