1988 Four Winns- Greasing U-joint

[sadutil]

I have a 1988 Fours Winns 215 Sundowner with a Chevy 305 motor and a OMC outdrive. I was looking at greasing the U-joint on the lower unit cause I am not sure when it was done last. I bought the gasket already. It looks like it's only 6 bolts to remove.. Can anyone give me any hints or directions to what the proper way is to grease this? Also how often should I change my gimbal bearing and water propellers? thanks

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: 1988 Four Winns- Greasing U-joint

Mercruiser, Volvo and OMC I/O or Inboard Engine Problems

 

[Lou C]

Re: 1988 Four Winns- Greasing U-joint

For this job you're going to be removing and reinstalling the drive, removal is not hard but the drives are heavy so you may need 2 people unless you have a strong back. I built a stand to hold it, here are some pix.
Greasing the u-joints is easy, the main thing you want to check is that the bellows does not have water in it and the gimble turns easily with no roughness. Checking engine alignment with an alignment tool is a good idea too. Installing is little tricker, it can be hard to get the driveshaft in straight. The original bellows were a tight fit and made reinstallation difficult, the newer ones are a bit bigger and make it much easier.
You can see R&R instructons at
www.crowleymarine.com
look in product support under OMC Cobra drives. They have the instructions from the original manual there.

 

[sadutil]

Re: 1988 Four Winns- Greasing U-joint

thanks for your help.