Gen II Bellows & impeller replacement

I have 2003 Bayliner with Mercruiser 5.0, Gen II outdrive. And I am replacing all bellows & impeller since I bought new. I know I have been extremely lucky so far. I had no clue on maintenance. Here are my questions:
1) I found a couple ounces of water inside of U-Joint bellow, but no rust on U-Joint assembly & gimbal bearing is in good condition - Is the normal or should I concern?
2) More than couple ounces of drive oil was dropped when upper unit was separated from lower ? Is this normal or should I change the oil seals?
3) New face seal (oem) bottom diameter is larger than old one. And it is keep sliding up after installed (pressed down) with setting tool ? Is this normal? Then I don?t see any purpose of the setting tool.
4) It seems that the sharp teeth on grounding clips are unnecessarily too high. And they are causing the hose clamp slipping out from the original position during tightening. What is the purpose of the grounding clip with sharp teeth on the rubber bellows? Mechanical locking, grounding, or both?
5) It seems that the shift bellow opening is too close to the exhaust bellow opening. There is no clearance for the shift bellow (even without glue) after the exhaust bellow installed. Should I stretch the exhaust bellow to reduce the diameter with hinge pins installed or any other tricks?

I am thanking you in advance for your help.

Re: Gen II Bellows & impeller replacement

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... If ya follow the factory manual, Exactly, everything fits together perfectly....

The manuals can be found up in the Adults Only section at the top of this forum...

'n, Ya, that's a grounding/ bonding clip, 'n it's Necessary...

The metal lockin' ring can be pushed in by hand, without the tool, with a squirt of Quicksilver Power Tune...

Re: Gen II Bellows & impeller replacement

You are supposed to drain the oil out of a gen II before you separate upper and lower.
Any amount of water in the drive bellows is NOT normal or even OK.

Re: Gen II Bellows & impeller replacement

Thanks for quick responses. I do have Merc. & Seloc manuals plus all the tips from you in this forum, and I did drain the oil out before I separate upper and lower. I am quite surprised no one has same issues as I have. Here are what I have learned over two weeks of studying, sweating & swearing (at Mercruiser design Engineers).

1) I witnessed the condensed water at the bottom of the bellow convolution due to the air temperature fluctuations at the North West of Pennsylvania (experimented on old bellows). But I don?t think that this condensed water will get to the gimbal bearing. However, I am going to open every other year for inspection & cleaning.
2) From the looks of the design, some remained drive oil should flow down when upper unit was separated vertically from lower.
3) Mercruiser changed the design of the lower water pump face seal (don?t know when). New seal has larger diameter at the bottom of the skirt. And this face seal is sliding up by itself after depressed by the setting tool. And I don?t see much need for the setting tool.
4) After I knocked down the sharp teeth (~50% of the height) on the exhaust bellow grounding clip (bell housing end), the hose clamp was not sliding out from the original position during tightening, & it still made good electrical contact. And I found that the long (I used 14?, 8?+6?) 5/16? carriage bolt works better than the expansive expander tool for me. Even I didn?t have to remove the shift shaft. Of course it wasn?t easy.
5) Next time, I would install all three bellows on the transom first with proper gluing prior to attaching the bell housing. But of course these are my personal references.

Re: Gen II Bellows & impeller replacement

I think your probably referring to the oil from the dribble valve when you seperated them. Wipe it clean and you should not see anymore.
I call it the dribble valve or whatever it's called.