Pulled Alpha 1 last night...

[bashr52]

I got my drive pulled last night to diagnose my drive oil leak issue, and found the drive shaft bellows full of milky nasty drive oil. I'm assuming no oil is supposed to be in this area?

Would a leak in that area would also explain why I'm getting water in my bilge?

 

[Grub54891]

Yup, there should be no oil in the bellows. The seal on the driveshaft holds the oil in, but if there is a leak elsewhere, it will get milky, and push oil out that seal. Sounds like you need to replace the seals in the lower unit. Drain the oil and do a pressure test to determine where the leak is. There is a procedure in the stickys on top of this forum.

 

[Watermann]

Was the drive full of milk too?

No oil or water is supposed to get in the bellows but grease can accumulate from the u joints and grease-able type gimbal bearings.

Yes water can get through into the bilge if the bellows are leaking.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Does it smell like gear lube or smell like not much of anything? Gear lube has a distinctive smell. Grease and water mix won't smell but surely looks nasty. Take a swipe with a finger and give a good whiff.

 

[bashr52]

No doubt about it, its gear oil. As soon as the drive came off and the stuff started running out I got a face full of gear oil smell, that stuff stinks!

 

[Rick Stephens]

No doubt about it, its gear oil. As soon as the drive came off and the stuff started running out I got a face full of gear oil smell, that stuff stinks!

Yup. That'll tell you. Time to reseal.What drive do you have? Serial number helps if you are going to reseal it yourself. I asked the local dealer how much to reseal my upper if I handed him the upper, they gave me a number of $400. So I bought a torque indicator wrench, all the seals for the upper and a spanner for the big nut. All done in an hour. Cost under $200. Older drives were easier than mine that required a rolling torque.

 

[bashr52]

Alpha 1 gen 2. Serial # 0F170477

 

[cwburkeva]

If doin this yourself you will need a few special tools. A spanner tool is critical to get the spanner nut off at the yoke.

Another thing to be sure is if the yoke shaft is not scored too deep where the seal sits. If you can feel a ridge with your thumbnail, use emery cloth to lightly sand it down, if it's too deep, the seal won't work and you will have same problem in the future, this would require replacement yoke - assembly is probably cheaper than just the yoke since removal of the cross bearings would be required. (This is worst case)

I'm not sure if this serial number has the yoke assembly that requires the special pre-load on bearing re-assembly procedure. Mine fell before that procedure and only required a large hose clamp to keep the shims and bearings together with a very light torque value on the bearing nut.

Good luck with this repair!

 

[Rick Stephens]

You have the same drive model as mine. It will require a clamp on the bearing pack. And you will require a torque indicator wrench (I got this one) and a regular 1/2 inch drive torque wrench. Have to get 200 ft/lbs on the big retainer nut when you reassemble..

 

[bashr52]

Thanks for the info. I'll have the outdrive mounted to the workbench in my warm basement for the winter so I can work on it and replace the impeller while I have the drive off and apart. I'm going to do bellows and gimbal bearing in the spring before I button it up as well. Might as well do it all while it's apart so I don't have to worry about it!

I noticed the flexible water pump outlet/engine input hose is really cracked and bad looking where it flexes as the tilt cycles. Looks like it was left in the up position for a while and the hose started to dry rot and crack while it was under strain. Is that a short section of hose, or one hose that goes all the way to the water circulation pump?

 

[Watermann]

It's a short piece of hose, you'll see when you get the hinge pins out. The new one will be too long so trim it to fit and don't try to get the whole piece in there or it will be kinked.

 

[crazy charlie]

do a vacuum and pressure test.Sounds like you have issues with both.Getting water in makes the milkshake,thats a vacuum issue.Leaking into the bellows is a seal behind the joints,pressure.Charlie