Hey guys, looking for some advice on how to extend the life of my outdrive a bit for summer usage until I can afford repairs. I have a '91 Bayliner Capri with a Mercruiser alpha one that I just bought. The boat runs fine and I've been using it but I took to a mechanic for assessment anyway just to see if any problems. The mechanic said he suspected a bad u-joint and gimbal bearing due to the growling noise while running so I removed outdrive and yep, the u-joint and gimbal are rusted and water was in the u-joint bellows with all kinds of grime. Here's my problem, I don't have $1500 to repair it and I just want to use it through the summer until I can save up cash to repair. I'm gonna put the drive back together but I want to know if anyone has any suggestions for a quick and cheap solution to stave off any further damage and keep it running for the time being, maybe 3 or 4 months. I can only afford maybe $100 bucks right now for grease, lube, maybe new gasket and seals, etc. Is there anything I can do for the u-joint and bearings? Put some grease on them or something. Should I change gear case lube? Any cleaning I should do? Maybe a quick fix for the bellows? I'm a newbie to this, my first boat so not sure how best to handle.
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks!
Bob
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks!
Bob