Gimbal Bearing question

Hello,
I have an Alpha I Gen II (I think) its a 1997 Mercruiser 3.0LX engine on a 1997 searay 175. I hear a little noise only when I am turning one way. I do not remember if its right or left but I hear a slight noise from the engine/drive when turning one way and not the other. I would not call it a growl or clicking just a small light sounding roar when I turn one way but not the other. Is this the early signs of a Gimbal Bearing failure? I am not getting water in the boat like from the bellows. The drive oil in the resevoir looks clean. Could this possibly be considered normal? I just bought this boat and have had it out 5-6 times and noticed this each time. I greased the zirk for the gimbal before last trip but this slight noise is still present. Any suggestions, comments, etc?
Thanks,

Re: Gimbal Bearing question

Sounds like a gimbal bearing to me. You'll have to pull the drive and check for water in the bellows. It doesn't take much.

The bearing should turn easily by hand, and be silky smooth. If it feels at all "gritty" or resistant to turning, you need to replace it. If there's water in there, you need to replace the bellows, gimbal bearing, and your U-Joints...

Re: Gimbal Bearing question

I had planned on pulling the drive at the end of this season to replace the gimbal ? , impeller, and bellows. All because this boat is new to me and I do not think it have ever been done. Does anyone know what special tools I will need to accomplish this? I plan on changing the engine and drive oil which I already have a pump for the drive oil, but changing the engine oil looks like it might be tricky. Then I will winterize. (drain water like mercury says) I expect I will take 3-4 more trips this year based on our weather and my schedule. I hope the gimbal won't get any worse. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Re: Gimbal Bearing question

At the very least, you're going to need a hinge pin tool ($15 on ebay) to remove the gimbal ring, to replace the bellows.

You're going to need a slide hammer with 3 jaw puller (you can "rent" it for free from autozone).

You'll also need a way of driving the gimbal bearing back in. There's a special tool (in three pieces, sold separately) that drives the bearing back in.

Lots of folks just cut a notch out of a 2x4, so that the wood only touches the edge of the ring (don't put ANY pressure on the bearing itself), and drive it in that way.

I opted to pay the $100 for the driver tools. It still cost me less than the cost of one time of having someone else do the work for me, and now I can drive all the gimbal bearings I want.

If you do the same, you could even recover some cost by renting the tool out.

If you're looking to do it on a budget, the 2x4 seems to work for a lot of folks.

You'll also need an engine alignment tool ($50 on ebay).

There are plenty of different ways of doing U-Joints. If you've ever done them on a truck you'll be able to figure out what you need to do to replace them. I used a Ball Joint press from Autozone ("free" rentals again).