2000 Merc Bellows / Boots

[porscheguy]

Replace all of your zincs while you’re doing this. Others can say whether zinc anodes are better than aluminum ones in saltwater. But whatever you have now are looking a bit rough. So it’s best to change them.

 

[andrewterri]

Depending on when the gimbal bearing was replaced, some of the new ones are sealed and do not use the grease fitting. how to the u-joints feel?

 

[krakatoa]

Depending on when the gimbal bearing was replaced, some of the new ones are sealed and do not use the grease fitting. how to the u-joints feel?

Still waiting on a few parts, gimbal bearing still oin the mail, not sure if its sealed but they are quicksilver and package have manufactured date of 03/15/2017, got it from ebay for 45.00 bucks.
so lets see. Ujoints feels nice and freely moves. Just looking for the alignment tool.
will keep posted with more pics as soon all parts arrive.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you didnt get the bellows, bearing, and tools as a complete kit on fleabay?

 

[krakatoa]

you didnt get the bellows, bearing, and tools as a complete kit on fleabay?

Nope

 

[Scott Danforth]

complete kit is about $150 piecemeal you will spend about double that

 

[LX Kid]

Looks like things are going to get better for you now you have a couple of specialty tools to work with. Don't forget to put grease on the end of the alignment tool to see where it might be dragging "if any" drag. You will be able to see the drag marks on the alignment tool grease.

Do your u-joints have grease fittings on them? If not it "might" be a good idea to remove them and grease them or replace them with ones that do have the zert fittings.

 

[krakatoa]

complete kit is about $150 piecemeal you will spend about double that

I spend around 120.00 on OEM parts, right from fleabay. Bellow adhesive included. Borrow alignment tool from LX KIds, THANKS, and slide hammer puller from autozone.

 

[krakatoa]

Well the project still going on , not finished yet but pictures coming soon. still have a question for the pros here

Do I need to re-align the engine for just change the gimbal bearing?

The tool was used after the bearing replacement, so Im pretty sure that this step gets the bearing lined up right.

 

[Maclin]

Yes, you will need to do the alignment using the tool to get the gimbal bearing lined up in proper orientation.

 

[krakatoa]

Well here are some updates:

Hinge Pin Tool

Bell housing removed, the 3 claws bearing remover doesnt work for me when removing the gimbal bearing, will show you the one that do the trick.

 

[krakatoa]

For shift cable removal I use a 14MM BMW spark plug tool

Ok, as always nothing is like easy going when jump to remove shift cable just found it was welded to the housing, Dont know If it was glued, loctite, sealed with 5200 for ever but it was snap into the bell housing thread.......

 

[krakatoa]

Ok then, lets push aside the shift cable trouble by now, and keep going with the gimbal bearing removal

New bearing is in!!!

 

[LX Kid]

This is what happens when you let "Magilla the Gorilla" try to help you get the shift cable stub out of the bell housing. The brass shift cable had bonded to the housing and wouldn't budge so Karatoga and I tried using an easy out and a cheater bar. The results were unexpected. The pics below show the before and after results of out efforts. Now the bell housing is at the machine shop being welded up and re-tapped. Three cracks! There's not a lot of stress on the cracked area as it only holds the shift cable in place.

I was the "gorilla" trying to help Krakatoa remove the twisted off cable fitting from his bell housing. (Help is where you find it and sometimes it's not the best help offered! Either way it would have had to go to the machine shop. My bad!)

 

[Lou C]

I think I would have tried a little heat on that housing to get it to release the grip on the threads of that shift cable. When you install anything on an outdrive or transom mount that is a threaded fitting, use Merc Perfect seal or OMC gasket sealer on the threads. This will prevent most of the these seized in place issues. I've used it on all the bolts on the drive and transom mount, anode bolts etc and even with this boat being kept on a salt water mooring, the bolts will come out. OMC gasket sealer is like the Holy Water of my garage....

 

[LX Kid]

I think I would have tried a little heat on that housing to get it to release the grip on the threads of that shift cable. .

He had no torch and mine was 20 miles away. He said he also has a stripped / broken bolt somewhere on his outdrive that has to be dealt with. (Don't let gorilla touch it with my bad luck!) Maybe he will post a clear picture of it.

 

[krakatoa]

He had no torch and mine was 20 miles away. He said he also has a stripped / broken bolt somewhere on his outdrive that has to be dealt with. (Don't let gorilla touch it with my bad luck!) Maybe he will post a clear picture of it.

Here is the pic of the"snapped" bolt, I can move this washer to the other side and tap a new bolt. That washer and bolt is A Continuity Circuit Washer, some Merc BS...