Bellows Replacement

[FreeBeeTony]

Gonna replace the u-joint and shift cable bellows today.......any last minute hints/suggestions? Which side of the bellows should I attach 1st.......the transom side or the bell housing side?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Bellows Replacement

any last minute hints/suggestions?

Ayuh,... Hire it out like I do,...
Or,...
Have plenty of These,...

 

[achris]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Ignore him ^^^^

Bell-housing...

Chris....

 

[ziggy]

Re: Bellows Replacement

follow the s/m

use oem parts

user a ujoint press tool and the appropriate adapter the book says to use or equivalent to make short easy work of the ujoints.

have ya got a plan on how your gonna do the aft ujoint cross? it's near impossible to do with the driven gear yoke retainer in place. i pulled the assy. to get to it. got the proper retainer wrench?

i followed the book on which bellows end to attach first. bell housing first. gimble housing side last. note what the bellows themselves say on them. i think its fore and up? can't remember..

good luck fbt...

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Hey Bondo........can't sub it out this year...saving the $$$ for fuel/bait.

Hope my knuckles don't get too beat up.........at least the hinge pins are loose already.

I'll let you know how I make out.....

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Took about 4 hrs...fought a bit with the gnd screw on the stb side of the housing. the bellows went on suprisingly easy.......so easy wasn't even sure the "bead" of the bellows was in the grove.......

Glad I did it......the bellows was on it's last leg.....the clamps weren't even that tight and they weren't leaking!!

Not that bad but not looking forward to doing it again........

 

[achris]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Err, you did use bellows adhesive, yes?

Chris.....

 

[Damien.]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Err, you did use bellows adhesive, yes?

Chris.....

The exact question I was about to ask.

Fingers crossed !

Oh and the U-Joint bellows should only be mounted one way, on the bellow itself it should have "TOP" pressed into the rubber, did you see this ?

D.

 

[rjwoodrome]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Bellows adhesive? gasket sealant? permatex ok ? or is this a special merc. product?

 

[ziggy]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Bellows adhesive? gasket sealant? permatex ok ? or is this a special merc. product?

bellows adhesive. by merc, sierra, whoever that makes bellows adhesive. then you know you have a product that's up to making the seal and has been recommend by the oem. imho. why mess around with anything that may be substandard. this is a seal between you and sinking....

fbt. did you use an oem bellows? i did and found them kind of a bummer to stretch onto the gimble housing. and that was with the bell housing free to move fwd. not much stretching, extending the bellows. 1st time i did it. i felt the bead fall into the groove and felt cool. second time i did not feel it fall and relyed on being up against the boss assuming i was there. so far no leak.
glad it worked out smooth for you. next fall you'll know weather yer hip...

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Yup........used bellows adhesive and bought all OEM products........didn't want to skimp here......pretty sure it's in correctly.......definitly poistioned correctly as far as top/bottom/fwd/aft is concerned.

Also did the shift cable bellows.....maybe a new trick....I taped a pc of wire to the cable end in the boat before I pulled the cable.......helped a bit when I pushed the cable back into the transom to pull it back to the top of the engine......

 

[ziggy]

Re: Bellows Replacement

sounds like success to me. way to go fbt..

.helped a bit when I pushed the cable back into the transom to pull it back to the top of the engine......

interesting... i did the same thing but used a piece of twine. i wanted it for cable routing purpose. + like ya said, helped to get the cable going the right way when feeding it back in during install.

 

[rjwoodrome]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Thanks, for allowing the tag along, Im going to do the same maintenance to mine this week. there will probably be some new post's looking for guidance.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Bellows Replacement

For those following along - 3M Weatherstrip adheasive is the same stuff as the bellows adhesive from Mercruiser.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Bellows Replacement

I only applied the bellows adhesive to the bellows.....not to the transom or bell housing side.....

 

[achris]

Re: Bellows Replacement

I only applied the bellows adhesive to the bellows.....not to the transom or bell housing side.....

That's what the books says... so you did good...

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Bellows Replacement

Good......just hope it doesn't leak.......

The bad thing is you can't really tell if it's leaking w/o pulling the boat and pulling the drive!!