King Cobra (1995 7.4l) bellows. Who has replaced?

[fkonieczny18]

Just as the subject says guys, I need to replace my u-joint bellow. I have water entering the boat from the drive shaft from the sterndrive. Has anyone replaced theirs? I have helped a buddy replace his a Merc Alpha One before. I have a shop manual for my King Cobra and doesn't look too bad. Has anyone dove in and replaced one yet? <br />Also, where is a good place for parts for this thing. www.dougrusell.com has parts but always looking for multiple sources. Thanks in advance.

 

[a.d.mobile]

Re: King Cobra (1995 7.4l) bellows. Who has replaced?

not a biggie I think there easyier than a merc my self. be sure to un hook the shift cable pin in the pivot housing. probally need a gimbal brg and u-joints did it sit all winter like this?

 

[fkonieczny18]

Re: King Cobra (1995 7.4l) bellows. Who has replaced?

Thing thing that angers me is that I just bought the boat in Oct 2004. It was a brokered boat. The dealer said they inspected the bellows when I bought the boat and even replaced the gimble bearing. So now they are saying the bellow was fine when I bought the boat. The boat was stored indoors all winter with drive down. It started leaking the minute that put the boat in the water for the first time.<br /><br />So its not too bad then? I am going to get a price from the marina where it is slipped. Depending on price, I may do myself.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: King Cobra (1995 7.4l) bellows. Who has replaced?

can you descrbe the drive better? I dont think a king cobra was made in 95. most were cobra/sx models. was a volvo/OMC joint venture. most tooling will be JV stuff. <br /> if its has a long sloping plastic cover on the back retained with 3 bolts its either a cobra or an sx. if the shift mechanism is behind the plastic cover its an SX. SX is about the esiest unit to do a bellows on. takes less than an hour.<br /> last sunday I did a set of bellows, a set of manifolds and risers and a seawater pump kit on a 96 cobra/sx unit with a 5.7 in a 25 parker in 3 hours.arrived at the site at 1:30 and left at 4:45.<br /> try to describe the drive for us. the cone clutch king cobras produced in the 80's were vastly different from the dog clucth king cobras of the late 80's and all cobras were different from the cobra/sx and later sx units. all the cobra dog clutch models used a shift interrupt switch on the shift transfer. and yes its possible it looked ok last winter but finnished dry rotting and leaked the first trip out. thats why bellows replacement every 3 years is a good idea. fix things before they break.<br />if it had water in it the ujoints and gimbal bearing are toast. dont try to flush and run them.<br />if its a cobra/sx unit you will need a pair of snap ring pliers to remove the exhaust bellows. you will ned a 2 jaw slide hammer to pull the gimbal bearing. its bossible to reinstall the bearing with a long 3/4 brass drift but the tool is faster. make sure the grease hole in the bearing lines up with the hole in the bearing bore on the transom shield. you will need a drive shaft alignment tool after installing the bearing to line the bearing bore with the coupler.