Changed Bellows still have water

[jonny rotten]

Last year I changed the u joint bellows, gimbal bearing and lower shift cable and boot.
I pulled the outdrive off without being in the water yet this year and water came out when I separated the outdrive. I have run it on muffs this year

There is watered down grease and water in the u joint bellows, a total mess and the new ujoints have a white dry salty/rusty look. So it's leaking big time. It's a mess in the bellows.

How do I figure out what went wrong without replacing the bellows and starting from scratch?
The water inlet oring is intact
New water hose

I'd hate to redo the PITA ujoint bellows if it was possibly just the outdrive gasket, that I replaced with a new one when I did the job

I used 3m weather stripping adhesive on the bellows and cleaned all the old sealant off with a wire brush the best I could before the install

I obviously did something wrong but don't know what it could be.

 

[alldodge]

I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but it comes down to figuring out where the water is coming in.

Don't know how fast its coming in, but use your phone camera and get it where your head doesn't fit and see if you can find out

 

[jonny rotten]

I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but it comes down to figuring out where the water is coming in.

Don't know how fast its coming in, but use your phone camera and get it where your head doesn't fit and see if you can find out

How do I go about doing that? It's a sealed unit once the outdrive goes back on.
Is there a way to isolate the bellows from the gasket as far as testing for a leak?
I can't think of way

 

[Bt Doctur]

1 the large rubber ring is GLUED in place
2 water inlet O ring is GLUED in place
install gasket. shift into Fwd, install drive

 

[jonny rotten]

1 the large rubber ring is GLUED in place
2 water inlet O ring is GLUED in place
install gasket. shift into Fwd, install drive

It's to late for me to edit the OP
It's a an Alpha one Gen one.

I don't believe there is a metal retaining ring on the Alpha one and I used adhesive before installing them with a hose clamp......it dried quicker than I could get it together as it was a royal PITA

Are you saying that the 3m weather stripping adhesive is no good because it's not "glue" ?

I read many places its the same thing as the bellows adhesive that's why I used it.

But as far as testing for isolating leaks is there a way before ripping it all out and starting over?

 

[Paintman1960]

Far as I know all A1G1 drives have the o-ring, Mine does ,
You don't see the goove it fits in ??

 

[jonny rotten]

If I can't figure it out and decide to change the u joint bellows which I can feel coming, What side first. Bellhousing or transom side.

I researched this a lot when I did it last year and from what I remember they say this is the one time the book got it wrong.

I "think" the word on the street was to install on the bellhousing side first and with the bellhousing loose you can "push" it on the transom side and then pull back and install the pins. Is that the easy way

I've only done this once and trying to remember how I did it and I feel like I did it the opposite, very difficult way

 

[jonny rotten]

Far as I know all A1G1 drives have the o-ring, Mine does ,
You don't see the goove it fits in ??

It does have an o ring for the water tube. It is in place when I pulled it off so I would assume that's not the issue

 

[dubs283]

But as far as testing for isolating leaks is there a way before ripping it all out and starting over?

not really, unless you completely clean out the bellows, reinstall the drive using a new install kit/gasket and take it out on the water, then remove the drive and see if water is present

if the u-joint bellows is sealed properly the only way for water to enter is through the weep hole in the gimbal housing. water would enter from the bilge side of the housing in that case

your best course of action is to remove the bellows, clean off every piece of old adhesive from both flanges (bell housing and gimbal housing) and reinstall. carb cleaner works very well for this.

with bellows adhesive less is more, a light coating is all that is required. the true seal comes from the ridges in the flanges/bellows and the clamps. same for the large quad ring and water passage o-ring, only a light dab in a few places to hold them in place is required, the rubber contacting the aluminum is what truly seals them

 

[alldodge]

How do I go about doing that? It's a sealed unit once the outdrive goes back on.
Is there a way to isolate the bellows from the gasket as far as testing for a leak?
I can't think of way

Place the boat in the water and use the camera it and around to see where water comes in at