Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

[SunbirdChaser]

http://forums.iboats.com/mercruiser-i-o-inboard-engines-outdrives/shifter-hard-go-into-forward-629220.html

I put the link here so anyone who wished could follow along. I have been on a quest to get my shifter working correctly. After a lot of looking and asking questions, I got out the wallet and started throwing money into that Proverbial whole in the water that Boaters send there money to.

Question. First of all is there any member of the forum that is local to Southeastern Michigan who has theSpecial tool and would be willing to lend it to me? It's only 18.xx here on this site and I plan to order it. But I would really like to get this done and get back into the water.

As well as a shift problem I also have a slight leak. I was having to pump for 30 seconds or so each hour to get the water in the blige area out.

To resolve the shift Issue, I have decided to change the ISS, The shift cable, the ISS bushing, and all the Bellows. I will also order a new impeller and gaskets.

So far I have removed the outdrive and separated the Gear housing from the Drive shaft housing. I have removed all the Bellows and the part of the shift cable that is in the outdrive. I got stuck on the Bell Housing Hinge Pins.

While at K & M boats, Redford MI, the staff showed me a few things about the shift cable and shaft. The guy insisted that the bushing that the ISS goes through, does not wear, and that all of them have a lot of slop. Another 50 year MC mech said that he had never had to change on. So maybe that bushing is over kill.

I plan to spend the rest of the evening reading some of the postings related to the Bellows and shift cable replacement. Any special tips and how to's would be greatly appreciated.

 

[84EdH]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

Try 1/2" allen wrench......

go to the adults only section and read the archived, most recommended info. on changing shift cable, check out supplied videos, and check the oem manuals.....best info. around.

also, agree, iss has a lot of play.

 

[achris]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

The ISS top bushing can have some slop/play. The only reason I have ever change the top ISS bushing is for one of 2 reasons. It's the old style (subject to burning the seals) or the seal is leaking... I have never changed one for wear...

A couple of things that would help here are, a drive serial number, and photo of the back of the bell housing (you facing the front of the boat looking into the bell housing) so we can see the current bushing, and the condition of the shift slide cavity...

As for the hinge pins, yes a 1/2" Allen key will do the same thing...

Chris........

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

First off, thanks for the replies. Of all the tools I have, I don't have a 1/2 in Allen. That's easy to fix. I'll take another pic after daybreak.

A couple of things that would help here are, a drive serial number, and photo of the back of the bell housing Chris........

I had to replace my valve cover and the new one had a sticker with a drive SN on it. My original VC did not have such a sticker. The drive itself has no placards or stickers at all. Is there another place to look for the number. It is an Alpha Gen I.

 

[achris]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

... Is there another place to look for the number. It is an Alpha Gen I.

As it turns out, I'm in the process of getting a document approved to post in the stickies detailing where ALL the Mercruiser stern Drive and engine serial number locations are (with pictures )....

In the meantime. if the decals are all gone, then the number should be stamped into the metal where the decal on the port side of the drive-shaft housing should be....

Chris.....

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

Thanks Chris. I found that information in the #6 manual, and I had a look. No luck. I could not see a stamping at all. Perhaps I have several layers of paint. I'll save that for another days work.

I finished the Bell housing removal and removed the shift cable and all the bellows. The old bellows were all soft and showed no signs of cracking at all. They were all clamped properly. The only damage was to the Exhaust Bellows, and it looked as if that was damaged in installation. Next time I'll save up the money and pay someone else to do the job.

I did not get far enough in my reading to see that there must have been an order of assembly. I wound up putting them on then taking them off because I could not get the next one on. LOL. The water hose was soft, and I did not bother to change it. The first bellows to go on was the Shift cable. Next I installed the Exhaust. I placed a clamp at the middle of the bellows and tied 1/4 " dia tubing to the left and right side of the clamp and used that to pull the bellows up the the bell housing so I could clamp it. That seemed to work well. Especially since the drive shaft bellows was still off and I could use the large hole to work in. The bell housing is reinstalled and now I just have to get back to the original task of fixing the shift issues. I discovered that the roller part of the upper shift lever is worn out. The pin holding the roller is loose and the roller has slop on the pin and the roller is dented in several spots. Need a new part there.

Most of my readings seemed to focus on worn shift cables, but I'm seeing a lot of parts that each contribute to the total slop in the system from the remote control to the lower shift lever and probably all the way to the bottom of the outdrive..

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

If your going to replace the shift arm and roller.... then take a look at the shift shaft bushing/ seal as well. They have been redesigned with a better seal built into it. If your's is the old style, you should replace them as well, you have to remove the shift arm and roller to do it

Here's a pic from Fishermark on his being replaced:

See how large the brass is on the upper one and it extends into the exhaust cavity, that's the new style. I believe they are Quicksilver part# 23-805041A2

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

Thanks for the tip Eric. I'm going to skip the new bushings for now and continue with to reinstall after I resolve one little issue with the new shift lever. After installing it, the lever is somewhat stiff to turn. The new part is the lever, and I'm thinking it must be thicker then the old one, or the old one is worn on the lower surface. If I loosen the attach screw, it will rotate a lot easier.
Question: Will higher resistance to rotating that shaft likely cause binding and hard shifting? I checked two older shift levers and they were both slightly different thicknesses. The new part is the same thickness as the one that I removed. It appears that the screw hole is not in exactly the same position as the old one. It is drilled 5 thousandth of and inch higher. Perhaps I can sand off a few Thousandths

 

[achris]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

You need that to rotate with as little resistance as you can get. All the resistances in the shift system add up, and affect the shift cutout switch... If it's too shift, then you will have "stalls when shifting" problems...

Oh, and it would be a good idea to replace the USS bushing while you have it all apart. If you still have the old style bushing in there, and don't replace it, you be replacing the shift cable again fairly soon....

Chris.....

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

I ordered the bushing kit.

Back to my original issue, Hard to go into Fwd. Since my gear housing is off, I took my ISS and placed it on top of both my gear housing, LSS and the LSS of an MC1 housing that I have. Here are two pics.
At first it seemed that the ISS could have been bent or twisted. Not the case. These picture show that something is not lined up right or the LSS is possibly twisted

In order to examine, looks like I need another special tool. Perhaps someone knows of a substitute tool that will work.

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

The #6 manual states to check this part for twisting.

 

[achris]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

Rather than exact position, check for slop in that set-up. Turn the propshaft CCW and hold it firmly in place... Now see how much rotation you have in the shift shaft. It should be very little. You're looking just for slop, don't try too hard or you will slip it out of gear, just 'easy movement'... No more than 12?... Have a look at page 42 of sections 1C of the manual...

Chris........

 

[SunbirdChaser]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

I only have 9 degrees of slop. I also checked the travel of the Remote and it was within specs. Are you saying that the few degrees of twist are not significant?

 

[achris]

Re: Bell Housing Hinge Pin tool C91-78310

I only have 9 degrees of slop. I also checked the travel of the Remote and it was within specs. Are you saying that the few degrees of twist are not significant?

Yep.