Alpha one Gen 2 upper unit oil seals

[SeadawgVB]

I had a slight gear oil leak in my outdrive running down the drive shaft towards the water pump. So I knew I needed to replace the seals. Asked some questions here about the requirement of reshimming and rolling torque, and learned if I was just swapping the seals, no worries. So I got my spanner nut wrench in the mail this week. I also got a quicksilver upper unit seal set (26-88394A 1), strange thing was there was only one shaft seal in the bag. After at least a half hour of checking all the numbers and cross checking all the numbers and checking all the supercedes, the parts man was adamant that this was the correct kit. I did purchase an additional seal "just in case".

Pulled the upper unit appart a little bit ago, and all looks well inside, pristine even!

Here's the deal / question: I flipped the upper case upside down to push out the seals (yes there were two inside) and the top seal just fell out. The bottom seal needed almost no pressure at all and it fell out. Mercruiser manual sez to lubricate with gear oil and press into the bore. I will check the O.D. of the old versus new seals, but I'm wondering if I should use some type of sealant, and if so, what kind?

 

[SeadawgVB]

Re: Alpha one Gen 2 upper unit oil seals

OK, it get's better! The extra seal I purchased is the exact same part number as the two seals the came out of the upper unit (26-66302). The new seal is about .2mm larger than the old seals. Here where we turn left. The Mercury manual says put the first seal with the lip (spring) side facing down and the second seal with the lip (spring) side facing up. Well, the seal inside the 26-88394A 1 kit has a sprung lip on each side of the seal! So that answers one question, but what about sealant???

(Of course the seals were most likely the originals and the drive is a '95 vintage, that may account for some shrinkage.)

 

[achris]

Re: Alpha one Gen 2 upper unit oil seals

Is your new seal (called a double lip seal) twice the height of one of the originals? If it is, then just use that one. If not, and you only have the one, put that one in first, then a single lip seal... I use Loctite 518 Master Gasket sealant on the outer surface of all seals I put in...

Chris.....