how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

Hey Guys,

I have an 03 fourwinns with twin 5.0 volvo gxi-c and sx-m 1.60 outdrives. a few weeks ago i notice water coming into the engine room from the back. But it seemed to stop after I got back to the dock. I check the next week when I went out and notice bilige was work alot again. I friend said it proably the bellows. money is very tight right now. Does anyone know how hard this is to change on this model or any suggestion to check.


Ron

Put it in the water and look behind the engines and see where the water is coming from. Or you can try to see the bellows from the outside. Or if you can't locate... pull the drive (s) to inspect. Hopefully you do not have a bad gimbal bearing, u joints, etc... That's why they should be removed yearly as preventive maintenance. It all cost money. Its a little each year to do pm or wait until its broke then usually it costs a lot. Goodluck!

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Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

The bellows is easy to change, if you can remove the drive, the rest is easier. But you need to make sure the bellows is your problem.
That includes finding where the water is coming in from.
Problem is, if the bellows is full of water, you are also going to be needing a gimbal bearing, ujoints, and probably drive work.
How long since the drive was removed last?

Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

thanks for getting back to me.

I purchase the boat in 2006 and had a full maintence done on it. Since then money has gotten very tight and the little things that have gone I have been able to repair myself. bUT haven't had any problems and haven't done any maintence or repair on the outdrives. The water appeared to be coming from the port side approximaely were the engine and outdrive meet in the engine room. it is hard to see without removing the back seat and a smaller cover. it was a fellow boat/mechnique that suggested the bellow. because depending on engine up or down increase water flow. How hard is it to remove drive and switch out other parts?

Ron

Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

Pull the drive and have a look.

Remove back cover, disconnect shift cable from drive linkage, remove the connector and jam nut from the cable. (They won't fit through the hole in the drive)
Remove the aft trim cylinder pin. (I tie the trim cylinder up with a piece of string so they don't flop down when you pull the drive and end up damaging the hoses.)
Remove the 6 nuts holding the drive to the pivot housing.
Pull drive off of boat.

Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

Thanks, Don

I presume I need to pull the boat out of the water to do this? It also sound a little complicated not having the outdrive right in front of me to look at to see what your talking about. Is it easy then it sounds?


Ron

Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

andria garlick said:

Thanks, Don

I presume I need to pull the boat out of the water to do this? It also sound a little complicated not having the outdrive right in front of me to look at to see what your talking about. Is it easy then it sounds?


Ron

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... The boat has gotta be on the Hard, 'n yes, it's pretty easy...

Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

I presume I need to pull the boat out of the water to do this?

Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but if you have to ask that question, you need to find a mechanic.

Don S said:

I'm sorry, but if you have to ask that question, you need to find a mechanic.

Click to expand...

What's a bellows job run these days? Probably $500-750 ??? Or is Volvo even higher? That would also be before any other work such as gimbal, ujoints, alignment...



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Re: how hard is it to replace bellows 2003 fourwinn

90stingray said:

What's a bellows job run these days? Probably $500-750 ??? Or is Volvo even higher?

Click to expand...

The SX drive takes less than an hour to change the bellows, including R&R of the drive, the bellows cost about the same as Merc. But, he doesn't have a Mercruiser.
It also takes some mechanical ability and being able understand what is needed.
If you can't tell the boat needs to be out of the water to remove the outdrive, you probably shouldn't be messing with it at all.