Replacing seals on a Volvo Penta SX drive

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of repowering my 1998 4.3GL Volvo Penta and having taken off the outdrive (It's an SX but I'm not sure of the exact code, I can grab a serial number if need be.), I've noticed some oil in the U-joint bellows and also coming from around the prop shaft. So now it's got me thinking that it might be worthwhile to replace all the seals in the upper and lower unit as I have never had it done while the boat has been in my possession and the previous owners maintenance habits were sporadic at best.

Anyway, my question is, is this something I could tackle myself? As a bit of background, I'm fairly mechanically minded, and have rebuilt my fair share of motors, if that helps.

What parts would I need and where would I best source them from? Sierra maybe?

Any special tools I'll need or can I get away with other methods?

And finally, anyone have any wisdom they'd like to share on how to go about it all?

Thanks!

Re: Replacing seals on a Volvo Penta SX drive

Anyone have any advice?

I've read through the service manual, but I'm afraid it may be making everything look relatively simple when I could actually be getting in over my head.

Thanks again, I appreciate any and all help.

Re: Replacing seals on a Volvo Penta SX drive

What manual are you looking at? If it's aftermarket, it probably leaves a lot to the imagination. Resealing is not a scheduled maintenance type job. If something is leaking, repair the leak.

Re: Replacing seals on a Volvo Penta SX drive

When I was searching around for answers I actually downloaded the service manual you've linked to in some other threads, so that's the one I've been reading. Is it as straight forward as it makes out? Are the special tools a necessity or can other things be used to make do?

Thanks again.

Re: Replacing seals on a Volvo Penta SX drive

You can get by with replacing the input shaft seal without the special tool. But you will have to replace the thrust sleeve and preferably the bolt (They never get reused in real life) holding the shaft in, and reset the rolling torque with a dial torque wrench.