Torn Bellows damage drive units?

[davidh86]

Hello I’m in the process of negotiating a price for a bank owned boat. what worries me is one of the drives has severely torn u joint bellows, to the point where i don't believe the boat would be able to stay afloat. Is it possible if water flooded the u joint area it would pass the seals of the drives and destroy the actual drive unit? I understand it’s a complete theoretical but how durable are these drives? The boat only has 350 hours on it with two cracked block due to improper winterization. The actual tear in the bellows actually look like someone opened up a small tear to take a look at the u joints. Oh and any ideas on the cost of a rebuild?

Thanks,
David

 

[ziggy]

my bellows musta been bad when i got my boat.
i needed to replace
gimble brg.
all ujoints
input shaft for the drive + a new seal
big brg assy for the input shaft
and lastly the top brg for the driven gear shaft.

of course the bellows them selves were replaced along w/ water hose and shift cable and shift cable bellows.

the ft seal in the drive is to keep lub in, not water out. so if water is present, it will get past the seal and into the gear lub.
what gets destroyed along the way i don't know. guess i figured i was lucky my gears were ok.

that was for my mercruiser mc-1 drive. you did'nt say what drive you have.....

 

[tpenfield]

Figure $1k to fix the bellow and joint, $5k each for the engines. May be a replacement not a rebuild.