Lube in Gimbal and U-Joint Bellow

[Rick Stephens]

When pressure testing, rotate your input shaft a bit and see if it induces anything. And like nola mike, I like knowing for sure it is gear lube in the bellows. If it is gear lube it will stink like gear lube. I've had a nasty looking mess in there that was just grease and water well blended.

 

[nola mike]

When pressure testing, rotate your input shaft a bit and see if it induces anything.

That didn't look like a subtle leak, so wondering if it's Rick Stephens idea of grease + water. In that case, you'd (almost) definitely have a u joint bellows tear. Did you? One other possibility is if you had a bunch of water in the boat that made it back through the gimbal bearing.

 

[UltraBoater]

I have no definitive answer as to what kind of lube it its- i'm no expert. It could be grease from the gimbal or gear oil. Guessing by the amount, I would assume its gear lube- that would be a ton of bearing grease in my opinion- but this is a recent purchase for me ($1,200) so who knows what the previous owner(s) have done.

 

[UltraBoater]

I didnt think of water back flowing from the bilge side- good idea.

 

[JASinIL2006]

When my u-joint bellows developed a leak, a small amount of water blended into a bunch of grease from years of overgreasing the coupler. It looked a lot like yours. The drive itself was fine and wasn't leaking gear lube; all the mess in the bellows was created by water mixing with the coupler grease.

 

[UltraBoater]

Well one this is for sure, i cannot get the drive to leak air. Ive turned and wiggled on everything and no air leak. Maybe its safe to assume grease from the bearings or joints.... Time will tell i guess.

 

[nola mike]

Did you check your u joint bellows?

 

[UltraBoater]

I just got the pin tool in today and have not had a chance to take the bell housing off but will be tackling that job this evening. Im also researching how to remove the shift cable in a way it can be replaced.

 

[nola mike]

Your cable's toast, replace it.