NotEnoughTime
Cadet
- Joined
- May 7, 2008
- Messages
- 8
I have a 2001 Alpha 1 Gen II sterndrive (sn: OL917065) that has a gear lube leak. My buddy and I drained and removed the sterndrive from the boat and did a pressure test on the drive. We found a leak coming from the drive shaft housing oil seals. We also found that the u-joint bellows and gimbal bearing need to be replaced.
I have a mechanic buddy of mine helping me with some of the easier annual maintenance tasks. (change oil, replace impeller, etc.) He is not a boat mechanic, but very experienced with engine repair and precision engineering. We are prepared and confident that we can handle the Gimbal bearing and bellows replacement. We are not so confident about replacing the drive shaft housing oil seals.
The seals I refer two can be seen in on page 3A-4 in service manual #14 (90-818177--3 APRIL 2001) indicated as #5 in the Drive Shaft Housing Exploded Parts View.
I have the factory service manuals and it's not clear to me if we are required to check the driven gear location when we re-assemble the drive shaft housing. Also the manual lists the step to "Check and adjust the upper driven gear bearing preload as follows..." its also not clear to me if this is required when replacing these seals.
I have talked with a neighbor down the street who told me he replaced these seals last year in his garage and it was not as complicated as it sounds. He said the biggest thing to be careful about are keeping track of the extremely fragile shims and putting them back correctly. I also found this link which seems to indicate the same thing (see post#4) http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=1534136#post1534136
As far as I can tell the general tasks of this job is are: remove the u-joint assembly (using the merc retainer wrench). Remove the driven gear assembly. Remove the bearing cup (using a slide hammer puller). Replace the seals and reassemble accordingly.
Can anyone give me some advice on the difficulty level of this task?
Has anyone out there replaced these two oil seals? What was your experience like?
Would you say this can be tackled by some patient first timers that are handy with a wrench, or is there a high risk level of doing it incorrectly?
I have a mechanic buddy of mine helping me with some of the easier annual maintenance tasks. (change oil, replace impeller, etc.) He is not a boat mechanic, but very experienced with engine repair and precision engineering. We are prepared and confident that we can handle the Gimbal bearing and bellows replacement. We are not so confident about replacing the drive shaft housing oil seals.
The seals I refer two can be seen in on page 3A-4 in service manual #14 (90-818177--3 APRIL 2001) indicated as #5 in the Drive Shaft Housing Exploded Parts View.
I have the factory service manuals and it's not clear to me if we are required to check the driven gear location when we re-assemble the drive shaft housing. Also the manual lists the step to "Check and adjust the upper driven gear bearing preload as follows..." its also not clear to me if this is required when replacing these seals.
I have talked with a neighbor down the street who told me he replaced these seals last year in his garage and it was not as complicated as it sounds. He said the biggest thing to be careful about are keeping track of the extremely fragile shims and putting them back correctly. I also found this link which seems to indicate the same thing (see post#4) http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=1534136#post1534136
As far as I can tell the general tasks of this job is are: remove the u-joint assembly (using the merc retainer wrench). Remove the driven gear assembly. Remove the bearing cup (using a slide hammer puller). Replace the seals and reassemble accordingly.
Can anyone give me some advice on the difficulty level of this task?
Has anyone out there replaced these two oil seals? What was your experience like?
Would you say this can be tackled by some patient first timers that are handy with a wrench, or is there a high risk level of doing it incorrectly?
