I am replacing my bellows and gimbal bearing, I do not believe there is a seal behind the gimbal bearing. The kit I bought does not come with a seal, do I need the seal?
There is one, but it's more of a dust and dirt seal, not a keep grease in or water out seal.
In the future, you might want to put what Make, Model, and year drive and/or engine you are talking about.
As stated before it is more of a dust and dirt seal. It doesn't keep anything in the gimbal/u-joint area and it actually hides the fact that water might be getting into this area by keeping it in there. It also does not keep anything out since there is nothing on the interior of the boat side to actually get in there except dust and dirt and maybe water from washing the engine bay while not in the water.
You could not put one in there and probably never know it wasn't there and if you are in a bind, leave it out and put it back when you get a chance.
It is always best to keep your boat's mechanicals as near factory as possible, or better than factory so put the seal in as soon as possible.
A friend of mine has a 39 foot Doral with dual Mercruiser Bravo 3s. His gimbel bearing torque was never checked (over 7 years) and now he finds out that the gimbel bearings need to be replaced. The dealer told him him he should have checked the torque value annually to 55 ft-lbs and this may not have happened. His gimbel seals are leaking excessively and he is having them repaired (very expensive).
Does my 5.0L Alpha have the same arrangement? Do I need to torque the 2 gimbel bolts to 55 FT-LB also? The bolts are at the top of the outdrive and are easy to get to.
