More things checked of the outdrive list! Got the ujoints installed FINALLY last night. Seemed like the man upstairs didn't want me to do it...
First parts I ordered were WRONG! so those went back and when the new correct parts came in, they looked like they had been opened and returned to iboats, both parts were missing needle bearings in the caps, grease fittings were already installed, etc.... so THOSE went back (iboats was really helpful and readily willing to replace and make it right)... New u-joints came in last night and finally got them installed... Video to come soon.
Just an FYI, for those of you that have mercruiser drives... There is a cross-reference sticky in the adults only section over in the mercruiser forum... Make sure you know what u-joints you need before you assume the ones in the cross reference are correct. That thread makes it sound like all alpha 1 gen 2 drives use the same u-joint, however mine are different.
I used the part lookup feature over on mercruiserpartsdotcom and it actually lists the wrong part for the year of my drive, my drive must be a 95 or earlier model, or the input shaft was swapped at some point or something along those lines.
I ended up needing to order either the mercruiser or sierra u-joints only. This part is not a standard automotive part. I spent a few hours researching u-joint manufacturer websites and looking at their part lists by dimensions, and none of them list the correct u-joint for my drive. It must be specific to these drives. Mine had L15N cast into the cross.
I believe these u-joints were also used on Bravo drives.
Point being, make sure you know which ones you need and don't assume that cross-ref chart applies to your drive.
Impeller is next on the list!