Another drive shaft bearing question

[rpatton]

i have a 1986 mercruiser with a 2.5 motor and a Alfa 1 drive. The question is that I need to replace the drive shaft seal due to a bad bellow. I know I need to take apart the bearings to access the seal. But my question is the rolling torque if that is the system that I have. 2 - how can I tell if that's what I have . 3- and if I have the rolling torque type can I change to the type that is a torque and go style.

 

[Fishermark]

Here's a video where I asked the same question: Video of Alpha bearing assembly.

It turns out I have the type that is simply torqued down. And as I understand it, you can buy the spacer and convert the other style to the torque down type as well. But someone else will need to confirm that.

 

[Bt Doctur]

You will need to determine what type you have first. If no one has replaced the gears in the upper unit then you should have the old style with the inner spacer.
The bearings will simply slide off the yoke by hand pressure and you will find the inner and outer spacer. with this setup ,you simply tighten down the nut to spec.
If you are replacing the upper bearings at the same time ,get the sierra kit with the inner spacer.
To use this in the later upper units(GEN II) or in upper units that have had the gear set replace with the new style, install the inner spacer and just tighten to spec. It will set the correct preload similar to the older drives.

 

[rpatton]

Thanks guys I thought I herd that somewhere before. If that's the case though I wonder why they switched to the press on type. Is the new style better ?

 

[Fishermark]

For what it is worth, on the one I have, the bearings did not just slide off with hand pressure. I don't know if they were kind of gummed up or what... but I used a press to get them off. And this was on the style with the spacer. I bring it up in case anyone else sees this in the future and has a similar question.

 

[Bt Doctur]

You can test it by cleaning everything up and try slipping the bearing onto the yoke. Who knows, you might even have one of my drives.