Another gear lube monitor fitting breakage issue

[Rinker95]

95 MCM 4.3LX Alpha (Alpha 1 Gen 2 Serial # 0F524631) Boat given to my wife 2 yr ago.

Prelude: This has been a great boat after solving water in the oil and cleaning the 4 BBL carb. Oh yeah, seawater impeller and exhaust flappers too. Growling noise late last season led to removal of sterndrive (upper and lower) revealing water in driveshaft bellows and rough gimbal bearing. Ungreasable U joints seem smooth and tight. Pressure testing revealed driveshaft bellows was leaking around glued joint on gimbal housing leading me to remove bell housing and drive shaft bellows. Obviously original and seriously degraded rubber and insulation will require replacement of water hose, gear lube monitor hose, and trim limit and position pucks as well as gimbal bearing and perhaps the driveshaft bellows. There is fairly significant paint loss and corrosion with pitting on upper gear case housing and gimbal housing. Lower gear case has been replaced by SEI unit due to (violent) contact with basalt according to previous owner who luckily didn't go over Willamette Falls. Transom plate looks like new.

Present: Removal of gear lube hose from gimbal housing end of through transom brass fitting was difficult due to position of brass nipple practically contacting side of gimbal housing. I think that the fitting was put out of position during installation of nut on transom plate end. Brass nipple on gimbal housing side broke off while removing hose. My problem is I can't seem to get the brass gear lube monitor hose fitting out of the gimbal housing/transom plate assembly. I have tried twisting the fitting with double nutting on transom plate side then vice grips, etc. I have pushed quite forcefully on the transom plate side with a padded 4 ft steel bar as a lever to try to force the fitting out towards the stern. I can see some white powdery material between the brass fitting and the transom plate hole (see pic). I am not attaching a picture of my right wrist and hand from this process so far. I need some ideas for removing the fitting that seems now to be a part of the gimbal housing/transom plate assembly (this is a fresh water only boat). I don't see any more options from the transom plate side. Perhaps I should remove the end of the fitting on the gimbal housing side and try to drive the fitting through from that end, but I don't know if I might damage whatever seat the O-ring on that side has. Perhaps I should just forget about the gear lube monitor and seal off the fitting and hose on both gimbal housing and bell housing (this alternative is not in my nature). I am stuck. Open to suggestions. Jim. Thanks.

 

[alldodge]

Its corrosion welded to the assembly.
I sounds like the motor is still in the boat, and if so its real hard to be able to apply enough power to break it free.

Have you tried to put some heat on it from the stern side. Careful use of a torch

 

[Rinker95]

Thanks for the idea, alldodge. Yes, the engine is in place. I had considered heat but decided against it due to the proximity of the water tube (on both sides). Removing the water tube at this point seems easy compared to what I've done so far, and that water tube bushing/seal probably could use renewal anyway considering the condition of the hoses. I might be able to get heat onto the transom plate as well, especially if I disconnect and move the power steering a little bit. Do you have any suggestions for applying force to the fitting after heating it? The hex head of the fitting is captive in the gimbal housing so it is quite difficult to grab onto it for either pulling or twisting. If I apply force from the engine end, I'll have to have an extra hand applying heat to the gimbal housing casting, I guess.

 

[alldodge]

Fab some kind of a lever to apply force from the block.

From the outside drill a hole in the fitting and screw in a fastener and use a slide hammer

 

[Rinker95]

Thanks, I'll let you know...

 

[tank1949]

Thanks, I'll let you know...

Try a 2-3# sledge on it (if room) but make sure that you protect threads. You may be able to thread a nut onto brass threads (Try 2-3) and use a deep well socket to slip over brass flair to where it touches nut. That way, you will be hammering on nuts. Use Lots of break-free lube and soak over night. That's how I got mine off. Mine had chemically welded too! Good luck!

 

[Rinker95]

Thanks Tank, best I've been able to do is get my small sledge to tap on the nut on the fitting with the aid of about 30 inches of all-thread due to the engine being in the way. I'll look again but I don't think I can get any hammer in there, at least not with a straight on hit. My best and worst character trait, though, is persistence. On your advice I'm going out there tonight to "hit" it with another shot of penetrating oil. Wish I knew of something that would loosen that corrosion better.

 

[tank1949]

Thanks Tank, best I've been able to do is get my small sledge to tap on the nut on the fitting with the aid of about 30 inches of all-thread due to the engine being in the way. I'll look again but I don't think I can get any hammer in there, at least not with a straight on hit. My best and worst character trait, though, is persistence. On your advice I'm going out there tonight to "hit" it with another shot of penetrating oil. Wish I knew of something that would loosen that corrosion better.

You may also think about some sort of turn buckle (kinda like a reverse gear puller) if you can find a strong anchor point to press against. I used 3/4" conduit and 5/8" bolts/nuts to squeeze plywood against epoxy and transom skin. I created enough pressure to squeeze out epoxy resins when I rebuilt my rotten transom. Obviously, you need them a lot shorter. Good luck!

 

[Rinker95]

God I love this forum. Thanks for the photo, Tank. My hat is off to you.

 

[Rinker95]

Just closing the loop on this one. I finally got the gear lube monitor fitting out of the transom. I drilled and threaded the aft part of the fitting and applied a combined alldodge/Tank thread pushing/pulling concept on both the fore and aft ends with various combinations of bars, sockets, allthread, heat etc. and applied a quite massive force with the threads to push/pull the fitting aftwards. No luck. Then I slide hammered (aftward) the drilled and threaded aft hex end until the brass threads gave way. Finally I drilled from aft into the tube part of the fitting (only partway in) so I could remove the captive hex head of the fitting. Then I was able to use the 3# hammer and a rod to pound the remaining tube out of the transom and into the engine bay. This way, I was able to preserve the O-ring seat on the gimbal housing. Now if I knew the best way to remove the remaining white corrosion that was locking the fitting before installing the new one.....any suggestions here would be welcome. Also any ideas for keeping the new fitting from seizing? Thanks for the help.

 

[alldodge]

Gun barrel bore brush and some anti seize
That is if you get the brass one. Most new are now cheap plastic