Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

[Fleetwin]

This is a fairly new to us boat. 21' Maxum in great shape. Well cared for. Got it for a song.

5.0L-1988-Alpha 1. Sorry, I don't have the outdrive Serial # handy. Son's boat.

We removed the drive assembly just to check things out/service and see what he has. There have been no noises or issues. Runs and operates fine. The skeg is a little messed up but we're going to put a SkegGuard kit on it.

First off, we found a great deal of outdrive gear oil in the bellows. A pretty good puddle. It's definetely gear oil (Quicksilver green/blue). My son had replaced the gear oil last fall.

The U joints seem to be in good shape. No rust or looseness.

Questions:

1. Where is the most likely source of the leak? The drive is dry other than the bellows.

2. We believe it is the upper (horizontal) driveshaft seal. What do we need to replace that seal? Any special tools?

3. We'll order an upper gearcase (Quicksilver) seal/gasket kit but need to know what kind of difficulty we're getting into.

We do have the manual, thanks to the "sticky's".

Just looking for some advice and things NOT to do.

Thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

It's usually the front seal of the drive leaking, either the yoke has a groove in it, or there was water in the bellows and the rust on the yoke ate up the seal.
It's a straight forward job, but a tad tough to follow in the manual.
Here is the steps to replace the seal. If you don't need ujoints, just disregard that part.

View attachment A1 Front Seal replace.pdf

Be sure to pressure check the drive after the repair and before putting gear lube in to be sure you cured the problem.

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Any special tools?

[/B]

Just looking for some advice and things NOT to do.

Thanks.

Get the retainer nut spanner (not a bad price on Amazon or ebay). You'll also need the right ft-lb and in-lb torque wrenches. I'd also pressure check upper and lower (after splitting apart and before starting repairs) just to get a good "as found" condition.... May find another seal that needs replaced, but hope not... Best of luck, keep us posted!
Repair/replacement or speedi-sleeving of the yoke shaft will need to be determined after you get it all apart. Keep the parts in good disassembly order to help in reassembly. take photos along the way (we love to look at pictures!)

 

[MarkSee]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Any special tools?........Just looking for some advice and things NOT to do.

Yep, special tools.

Don't try and skip NOT buying the Bearing Retainer Wrench (P/N 91-17256); around $65 or so depending on OEM or aftermarket.

Don't confuse an inch-pound torque "gauge" as being the same as an inch pound torque "wrench" which you may need depending on which bearing assembly you have. Can easily spend $150+ on a better brand torque gauge.

Mark

edit: guess I wasn't typing as fast as ktb....but the instructions do indicate an inch pound torque "gauge"

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Spanner.... 35 or 65 on amazon (depending on how pretty you want it).

 

[achris]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

If the yoke is grooved you have 3 options.

1. Replace the yoke.
2. Speedie-sleeve the yoke.
3. Set the new seal 20 thou deeper in the carrier and have it run on a 'new' surface. That will give you another 10 years of use before having to use option 1 or 2.

If the yoke is rusted you only have options 1 and 2....

Chris......

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Update!

Well, after we weighed all the options, we're going a bit further.

1. Replace the bellows.

2. Replace the shift cable.

3. Replacing the Outdrive with a MerCruiser reman. or an SEI. That will kill a couple birds with one stone.

Thanks all for all the advice!

 

[dubs283]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Replacing the Outdrive with a MerCruiser reman. or an SEI

have you looked into the cost of having a shop reseal the drive for you??

that would be far cheaper than buying a reman or aftermarket drive

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

Where I am the shops are either theives or are backed up for three plus months.

Even though this Maxum is basically a "Gussied up" Bayliner, it's a nice boat. Solid and worth putting some $$ into. Custom paint and interior. A real "looker".

Then engine (5.0) has just over 500 hours on it but is solid also. Good compression and healthy. No noises, etc. Well cared for.

The drive is a bit of another story. It's hit a few things, over the years, and shows it.

This way, we put a couple large (2K$) into this boat and it will run on for years. The boat was purchased right to begin with so we have some room for resale.

I think this is the right decision.

 

[achris]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

I'm with dubs. I'd be looking at re-sealing your existing drive. It's a 'known' to you, whereas a re-maned or aftermarket is a crap-shoot.

Chris......

 

[achris]

Re: Outdrive Gear Oil in Bellows- MerCruiser Alpha 1/5.0l-1988

For some reason The forum double posted... I definitely only clicked once....