Pre Alpha Bellows and shift cable replacement

[bbook83]

I have the engine out and gimbal housing off my 1974 140 sterndrive. I separated the bell housing and gimbal housing and am putting in shift shaft and arm, new u joint, exhaust and shift cable bellows, new water hose and new shift cable on the bench before re-installing on the boat. I ran the engine end of the cable through the shift bellows and threaded the other end into the bell housing (old-style on the forward side of the bell housing). I installed the water hose on both the gimbal housing and bell housing ends I installed the u joint bellows on the bell housing end and the exhaust and shift bellows on the gimbal housing end.

I then tried to slide the bell housing back into the gimbal housing and work the u joint bellows on to the tube on the gimbal housing, but I couldn't get the bell housing in far enough. It felt like either the water hose or the shift cable was preventing the forward motion, so I removed the water hose at the bell housing end and unthreaded the shift cable from the bell housing. Now I think I can get the u joint bellows on to the gimbal housing, but I don't think I will be able get the water hose and shift cable back on to the bell housing after I get the u joint bellows on.

The manual is a bit unclear when you are doing all of these items at once. Did I proceed correctly when I hooked up the water hose and shift cable before pushing the bell housing back onto the gimbal housing? If so, is there a trick to routing the water hose and/or pushing the cable through the bellows so as to not have the restriction I found?

 

[Bt Doctur]

I usually install the water hose on the transom side first,install the bellows on the gimbal side , install exaust bellow on transom,
apply the adhesive to the bellows and slide it into place and clamp on the transom side.. install the water hose to the gimbal side. install exaust to the gimbal side.

 

[bbook83]

Thanks for the sequence Doc. I missed doing the gimbal side water hose last. How about the old style shift cable? If I slide the cable through the bellows toward the transom and thread the other end into the bell housing, will I be able to push the cable through the bellows while pushing the bell housing forward to get the u joint bellows on the transom side?

 

[bbook83]

I shortened the water line by 1" to 13", leaving both ends connected and I got the u joint bellows to slide on fairly easily in a test, but by the time I put on the adhesive and tried to tighten the clamp, I couldn't keep it on all the way. I believe the water hose was too close to the bellows at the top. I think that problem would be less with the bell housing end of the hose off, but I don't see how I would get it on with the bell housing pushed into the gimbal housing. To clarify Doc, are you saying I should be able to get that lower hose end on after the ball housing is fully into the gimbal housing? Also, would I be better off installing the gimbal housing onto the boat before doing all of this? I thought it would be easier on the bench since everything was off the boat anyway. Not so sure now.