alpha one outdrive leaks.....

greenz

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
47
Welllll, noticed this problem after letting the boat sit at the dock overnight while camping at lake erie. Woke up and the boat is sunk, thank god the water was shallow. I've been putting this off for a long time b/c it looks difficult and i've never had one apart. The leaks are coming from the 3 or 4 rubber hoses where they've dry rotted and cracked. So i've got a couple questions

1. where can i find the parts?
2. what other parts should i replace while i have it that far apart?
3. Can someone point me in the direction of a good service manual for the engine/outdrive in general?
4. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, owned my own auto performance shop for about 5 years, but i've never had an outdrive apart.. what kinda difficulty am i getting into?
 

ziggy

Admiral
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
7,473
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

1. ya can find parts here on iboats. your local dealer. bam.com, dougrussel.com. google mercruiser parts...
2. drive shaft bellow, shift cable + bellow, inspect gimble brg. ujoints, grease both if ok. water intrusion usually makes them not ok. ya should probably inspect your ft. seal and yoke of the drive. they don't like water either. make sure the drive didn't get water into it from the sinking. water hose. shift shaft seal inspect.
3. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=251571, ya need #6 for yer drive assuming it's an alpha1. confirm proper service manual by serial number.....
4. read the sm to decide if it's for you to do or not... it has the procedures ya need to follow in it.... myself. i thought not horrible hard. but certainly not easy either....
 

Uraijit

Banned
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
884
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

2. drive shaft bellow, shift cable + bellow, inspect gimble brg. ujoints, grease both if ok. water intrusion usually makes them not ok. ya should probably inspect your ft. seal and yoke of the drive. they don't like water either. make sure the drive didn't get water into it from the sinking. water hose. shift shaft seal inspect.

Might as well replace your trim limit, and trim gauge wires while you've got it that far apart as well! If they go bad later on, you're going to be kicking yourself, because you have to take all that stuff back off to get to them... ;)
 
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

I've never taken the drive of to replace trim limit or sender. Replacing your bellows is not too hard. Get a Mercruiser manual and follow the directions. Since you have water in your bellows check your u-joints, gimble bearing, and your shift cable. When you drain your outdrive and see water in the lube, don't be too alarmed until you have done a pressure test on the drive as water that is in the u-joint bellow can be sucked in through your upper seals. Like I said, it's not too hard and will save you a ton of money on labor. Flat rate hours for all this is probably around 10 hours.
 

greenz

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
47
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

1. ya can find parts here on iboats. your local dealer. bam.com, dougrussel.com. google mercruiser parts...
2. drive shaft bellow, shift cable + bellow, inspect gimble brg. ujoints, grease both if ok. water intrusion usually makes them not ok. ya should probably inspect your ft. seal and yoke of the drive. they don't like water either. make sure the drive didn't get water into it from the sinking. water hose. shift shaft seal inspect.
3. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=251571, ya need #6 for yer drive assuming it's an alpha1. confirm proper service manual by serial number.....
4. read the sm to decide if it's for you to do or not... it has the procedures ya need to follow in it.... myself. i thought not horrible hard. but certainly not easy either....


Thanks for the help and links guys , the service manual link you provided though, doesn't go past the outline of the manual... only 7 pages on it.
 

Wotknot

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 6, 2002
Messages
310
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

Thanks for the help and links guys , the service manual link you provided though, doesn't go past the outline of the manual... only 7 pages on it.

Go to pg 7......left side........run your mouse over the section you want...........click on it.......it'll download
 

Uraijit

Banned
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
884
Re: alpha one outdrive leaks.....

I've never taken the drive of to replace trim limit or sender.

Care to share you secret, then? If you're talking about the senders themselves, then yes, no need to remove anything but the senders, but I specifically said "WIRES". If you can replace wires without even removing the drive, please share your secret, and I'm sure you'll have guys on here offering you all the brewskies you can drink!
 
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