Mercruiser Outdrive

[crazyray]

I have a Mercruiser outdrive on my 1977 Galaxie Boat. The wires to the two trim switches on pivot of gimbal have cracked and need replacement. They seem to go though transom plate behind gimbal.....how do I change these...... any tricks to make it easier to snake wires thru transom.

 

[trevorcday]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

To do this job properly you need to take the outdrive off and remove all of the bellows. You may be able to get at the wires then or you may need to also remove the bell housing. It's a lot of work just to make the trim gauge work. Unfortunately there is no way around it that I am aware of.

 

[ODDD1]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

crazyray, the new trim limit/trim senders come with new wires installed in them...merc changed the design to better waterproof them...mrmerc is right about the difficulty of changing them, one of the sacrifices made for a compact design....the starboard switch operates the trim guage, the port limits your sterndrive upward travel with the trim switch...I have seen people bypass the trim limit switch because of your situation, but it raises safety issues as well as probable damage to your drive from overtrimming...if you bite the bullet and do replace them, think about replaceing everything else back there that is rubber or plastic...hate to take everything apart again next year just for a shift cable or a bellows.....

 

[495v]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

Good point ODD1. That comment makes me wonder. I just recently bit the bullet and had my outdrive removed so they could check the engine alignment; I wonder if they would have pointed out to me if any of these other plastic and rubber pieces were bad, or if they would just be quiet and have me pay for the outdrive removal again down the road. I know the rubber coupler was in good shape as well as the bellows, but I don't know what else they looked at. I know next time I talk to them, I will run some of my considerations by them and see what they say. By the way, the quoted me an hour and a half to remove the outdrive and re-install.

 

[trevorcday]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

495V: Removing the outdrive to check engine alignment does not require that any of the rubber bellows be removed so you haven't missed out on anything. It takes considerably more effort to change bellows than to re & re the outdrive. Actually the outdrive should come off each year to lubricate the engine coupler anyway, (unless you have a newer model with the external grease fitting).

 

[495v]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

How new of a model, mrmerc? It's a 1996, and I do have grease fittings in the back but I'm not sure what there for.( thought they were for the tilt/trim) Thanks for any advice.

 

[trevorcday]

Re: Mercruiser Outdrive

The greasable engine coupling was introduced around 2000 or so. I don't think they were on the 1996 drives. The grease fittings on the transom assembly of your drive are for the main pivots and there is also one on the right hand side for the gimbal bearing. If you have a greasable coupler you can access the grease fitting between the back of the engine and the inside of the transom.