How would Lower Unit Lube get into bellows?

[D. Engstrom]

I just finished replacing lower unit water pump and pumped new gear lube back into it. I only removed lower half of outdrive. I let it set overnight and it appears now that some of the gear lube has ran down from the top part of the shifter (from inside the bellows down the shifter to the outside) onto the outside part of the shifter. I pulled the top half off and there was a small amount of gear lube inside both bellows. I am wondering how this could have got there. <br /><br />There is no rust on the gimbal bearing or the u-joint.<br /><br />By the way it is off of a 1986 Sea Ray 140 hp with an alpha 1.

 

[trevorcday]

Re: How would Lower Unit Lube get into bellows?

The only way for gear lube to get into the u-joint bellows is through the driveshaft seals. You can have the drive pressure tested to confirm where it is leaking but you will likely need to have the upper gearcase re-sealed. Disassembling the upper gearcase requires a whole bunch of special tools so you pretty well need to have it done by a dealer.