Need Advice with U-Joint Replacement

[graves_7]

Long story short, I was hearing a slight tapping and roaring noise coming from my SX-M outdrive. After removing the drive I found there was water in the u-joint bellow and that there was a good amount of rust on the Gimbal Bearing and U-Joints. The u-joints don't seem to have any play/slop in them, but when I wiggle it there is a tapping noise that appears to be coming from the Pinion Housing (see attached video). So, I have a couple of questions:

​1. Is this tapping sound I am hearing normal? If not, what part should I expect to replace inside the pinion.
​2. Since there is not slop/play in the U-Joints, would you replace them? There is a good amount of surface rust.


Thanks,

Kevin

 

[Scott Danforth]

No

Yes

After the repair, i suggest following the annual gimbal and u-joint inspection and biennial bellows replacement schedule per the manual

 

[graves_7]

No

Yes

After the repair, i suggest following the annual gimbal and u-joint inspection and biennial bellows replacement schedule per the manual

Thanks for the reply Scott! The sound appears to coming from within the pinion housing not the spiders. Should i pull the pivot housing off? Any what would be causing that sound in the pivot housing?

 

[graves_7]

Any other thoughts on what is making the sound in the video above if it isn't the U-Joints?

 

[muc]

The sound on the video could be gear lash, but it's hard to tell from the way you're doing the test.
First thing you need to do is find out how the water got in there in the first place!
Usually if you get water in the bellows long enough to start causing noises that means that the bare minimum repair will be, fix why the water got in, replace u-joints, gimbal bearing and yoke seal.
I'm not sure what part you're referring to with "pivot housing" but the upper bearing box will need to come off, be disassembled and inspected.
Have you checked your gear lube yet--- a lot of times water in the bellows will allow water in the gear lube because the yoke seal is a single lip seal designed to keep the lube in, but not to keep water out. That's why scott danforth is reminding you about maintenance that your boat requires. Remember we don't inspect the gear lube at the dipstick, we drain some lube into a clean container from the drain screw.
Might be best for you to read the factory service manual for your drive to determine if you have the needed skills and tools to replace the yoke seal.

 

[graves_7]

The sound on the video could be gear lash, but it's hard to tell from the way you're doing the test.
First thing you need to do is find out how the water got in there in the first place!
Usually if you get water in the bellows long enough to start causing noises that means that the bare minimum repair will be, fix why the water got in, replace u-joints, gimbal bearing and yoke seal.
I'm not sure what part you're referring to with "pivot housing" but the upper bearing box will need to come off, be disassembled and inspected.
Have you checked your gear lube yet--- a lot of times water in the bellows will allow water in the gear lube because the yoke seal is a single lip seal designed to keep the lube in, but not to keep water out. That's why scott danforth is reminding you about maintenance that your boat requires. Remember we don't inspect the gear lube at the dipstick, we drain some lube into a clean container from the drain screw.
Might be best for you to read the factory service manual for your drive to determine if you have the needed skills and tools to replace the yoke seal.

​I have only had the boat about 14 months, so I guess I am doing my annual inspection now...unfortunately. I have receipts where the previous owner had the Gimbal Bearing replaced a couple of years ago, so I figured I would check things out when the boating season was over this year.

The water was getting in through the U-Joint bellows...there were a couple of holes in it. I actually drained the gear lube before removing the drive and there didn't appear to be any water in it. I already have the Gimbal Bearing out and the new Gimbal Bearing and U-Joint spiders in hand, so I think I am going to install all of that and see if I notice the sound still.

​I actually meant Pinion Housing in my comment above...I corrected that post. I was testing in the way I did in the video to show that the u-joint wasn't making the noise. How should I do the test to determine if it is Gear Lash?

 

[muc]

How should I do the test to determine if it is Gear Lash?

It's covered in the manual. You remove the shifter from the rear of the drive and use a dial indicator thru the opening. The upper and lower gears are checked separately while the input shaft is locked in place.

If you didn't have any water in the lube you might have got lucky and the yoke seal is still good. But I would recommend that you start checking the gear lube level before each time you use the boat. A lot of times when the yoke seal starts leaking it will allow the level in the drive to get low enough to cause damage to the upper gears and clutch before it washes the grease out of the gimbal bearing and starts leaking into the bilge.