Re: Please tell me my outdrive isn't toast
fwiw, achris and bondo are more pros than me, i've learned much of what i know from them. but 'll comment anyways.
from memory of reading the s/m + doing the double brg. set + R&Ring the driven gear top brg. there's shimming for the driven gear and drive gear. if i'm not mistaken. you'll have to check driven gear height if ya R&R the top brg. + check rolling torque with the dial indicator in. lb. torque wrench. (if you adj. the shim in the top cap brg. race, you'll have to add or remove from the bottom race)
then if ya change anything other than the seal on the drive gear yoke, you'll need to check that for shimming also.
fwiw, i didn't have the tools to R&R the top brg and race on the driven gear shaft. so i had my local dealer do that one. they checked the driven gear height with their special tool. i got to use there tools to see that the driven gear shaft preload was right with their tools (yes, more special tools).
i did the shimming with of the drive gear yoke. driving gear shaft didn't get changed that perticular time. oddly, the shim stack stayed the same.
for that matter, when i R&Red the driven gear top brg and race, that shimming didn't change either...
i been waiting to mention this since i did the driven gear job. my local mercruiser mech. told me, (right or wrong) that the reason the shimming is necessary is because they (mercruiser) don't make the housings quite the same ea. time their made, hence the need to shim. once it's correct. 'usually' even if you change the gears or brgs. the shimming stays the same. weather or not that's true, i don't know. but i will say, my shims didn't change albeit the new brgs. i didn't change any gears.
maybe a real tech will comment on what i was told and either confirm or deny that it's a fact.
guess when it comes down to it, i am happy i made sure the shimming was correct by going through the process one way or the other, me doing it (with borrowed mercruiser tools) or by paying my local mercruiser tech to do the job for me.
if yer gonna do the shimming, read the s/m very close for proper procedure. at least for me that was the case, i read it over and over prior to doing any shimming.
fwiw. i found when shimming that .025 goes in with a little resistance, .024'' slides in too easy and .026'' wouldn't go in.
