Outdrive and Shifting

Hey all, new to the site, been lurking a while an decided to register. We have a 17' Thundercraft bowrider with a 3.0 Cobra that we bought last end of last season. It's our first boat so obviously new to the boating world.

At the beginning of the season we took it out and it shifted really hard through F N and R. So a few weeks ago we took it to the shop and now i'm finding out that it needs a TON of work. Gimbal bearing, u joints, bellows (which is why we need everything else) etc. I was also told that the input shaft needs to be replaced. My first question is, would a leaking u joint bellow make the input shaft so bad that it would require replacement? Second question is would I be okay to do this work myself? I'm pretty mechanical and work on our cars, but never fooled with anything marine. I was quoted about $1900 for this work, also the shift cable needs replaced as well as the throttle controls too. I've priced the parts out and looked at Stuarts website on the shifting too.

I need some advice if anyone wants to chime in
Thanks in advance
Moto

Re: Outdrive and Shifting

My first question is, would a leaking u joint bellow make the input shaft so bad that it would require replacement?

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Yes, if it gets rusty where the seal rides, the rust pits will not allow a good seal. Then you could loose a lot of the gear lube into the bellows, from there you loose the upper gears and bearings, which contaminates the lower also.

Second question is would I be okay to do this work myself? I'm pretty mechanical and work on our cars, but never fooled with anything marine. I was quoted about $1900 for this work, also the shift cable needs replaced as well as the throttle controls too. I've priced the parts out and looked at Stuarts website on the shifting too

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Find an OEM manual before you start, then take it slow and follow the manual and you should be fine. Without the manual, you wouldn't even know if you was doing something wrong or even think you should ask a question here.

Re: Outdrive and Shifting

Thanks Don
I do have the seloc manual, it came with the boat. The slow and easy advice sounds good. If I run into something funny i'll ask questions here for sure.