Greasing gimbal bearing

[midnightrider1818]

I was wondering how you guys grease your gimbal bearing before throwing your drive in

 

[achris]

What are you working on? If it's a later model Mercruiser, then it should be a 'greased for life' bearing (unless some fool has put a greaseable in :facepalm....

If it is a greaseable, then just a couple of pumps of the grease gun into the grease nipple on the starboard side of the gimbal housing.

Chris......

 

[Blueghost924]

May I add to this as well? This post has great timing, as I just replaced the gimbal bearing in my 1986 Mercruiser 260 5.7L with the Alpha 1 Gen 1. Attached is a pic, and my main concern is that I don't have it aligned with the grease port just right (with the greaser nipple being on the stbd side). Before I installed the bearing, I cleaned the seating area, I forced a little bit of grease into the nipple and looking inside to see where in the seating surface the grease comes out of the port (for alignment purposes). Looks like the grease port is between the 3 and 4 o clock position on the seating surface. I then slid the outside ring on the bearing (Sierra part 18-2100) to expose the hole, which appeared to be 180 degrees across from the dot on the bearing. Then...being careful as possible, I installed the bearing and tried to keep the hole on the bearing in line with the grease port...which again looks like between the 3-4 oclock position. After I seated it, I tried to grease the bearing and didn't see any grease entering around the bearing on the inside...but grease was squashing around the grease nipple. I think I have it misaligned with respect to the grease port and hole, and that I need to remove the bearing and align the grease ports and holes correctly.

Advice?

 

[Bt Doctur]

what tool did you use to seat the new bearing?
Is the new bearing fully seated?
And it really dosent matter on the grease hole, there is a small groove in the tolerance ring that lines up with the hole in the bearing. the grease will enter thru the grease hole , travel in the grease groove, untill it finds the hole in the bearing.

 

[Blueghost924]

Hi Boat Doctor - thanks for the pics and the explanation. Looks like your pictures are of a disassembled tolerance ring from a gimbal housing where the bearing seats, and I can see where the groove will find the bearing grease hole no matter where the bearing orientation is. I guess the big concept is making sure the bearing grease hole is exposed prior to installation.




As far as install...well there the rub. I just used a 2x2 piece of wood that had a square face, and kept rotating it with each hammer to seat it evenly. I'm sure that's not the proper way. I forgot to put the bearing in the freezer prior to installing and it didn't look seated, so I've removed it again with a slide hammer.

 

[achris]

Ok, toss that bearing in the trash. 2 reasons. The way you installed it you impacted on the inner race. That transfers the impact load through the balls and into the outer race to push the assembly into the housing. You have micro-cracks on the race sufaces now. The way you removed it was exactly the opposite to install, you transfered the load through the balls and races, again adding more micro cracks.

The way that bearing needs to be installed is by driving on the OUTER race only. And that can be done with the right driver tool (see the sticky section for an engineering drawing of the tool) or by a small drift on the outer race.

Now, if you'd like to step into the 21st century, and not have to worry about having to line up grease holes, or having to grease that bearing EVER again, buy a genuine bearing from Merc.

Chris......

 

[Bt Doctur]

Here`s mine

 

[Bt Doctur]

And a rear motor mount installer

 

[achris]

Sweet.

 

[Blueghost924]

This is why I love this website and forum - advice right from the experts and how to avoid pitfalls. Thanks to Boat Doctor and Chris. Because of work commitments and time, I'm going to have a shop professionally install a new one. For the future, I'm going to get the RIGHT tools for the job as to allow me to do the periodic maintenance that ever good boat owner should be doing!

 

[achris]

..... allow me to do the periodic maintenance that ever good boat owner should be doing!

:thumb:

 

[Blueghost924]

In watching the videos - Chris has one for re-installing an Alpha 1 stern drive. There sounds like a canary chirping in the background...shop mascot?!

 

[achris]

In watching the videos - Chris has one for re-installing an Alpha 1 stern drive. There sounds like a canary chirping in the background...shop mascot?!

Hmmmm. Just watched the video again. No noises on my copy.

 

[astronutski]

I hope I can add to this thread as well.

I am replacing the gimbal bearing in my Alpha One (G1) and wondering exactly which grease to zirc it with? The replacement bearing is not sealed. I know the 2-4-C with teflon is NOT to be used, but then what is? Is there any special grease other than regular ole' grease? Or is this where Bondo's motto applies?
;-)

 

[achris]

If you don't want to use Mercs' own 'Gimbal Bearing grease', then any good quality marine grease (without Teflon) will be sufficient.

Chris......

 

[alldodge]

I currently have 3 greaseble gimbal bearings (old style) on the shelf if I ever need another. Sealed ones are great, they are less susceptible to water if a boot starts to leak. Just like the sealed U-joints in my truck I got 125K out of them before they needed to be replaced. Sealed ones will need to be replaced sooner or later. How long they last, don't know, haven't heard anything yet

The greaseable ones do need regular maintenance and if boots are done when needed, and they are greased, they will last a long time. My 95 Rinker still has the original bearing and when checked still smooth.

 

[JerryIrons]

I was wondering how you guys grease your gimbal bearing before throwing your drive in

I use mobil one synthetic grease, and there is that zirk fitting along the side. Just pump grease in until it comes out around the gimbal bearing, it will be very obvious.