"Pre-Alpha" stern drive bellows and gimbal replacement

[abhsvs0ccer]

Hello I am kind of new to boating.
I was gifted my grandfathers 1976 Searay 24'
It has a 351 Windsor with a "Pre-Alpha" stern drive
I have had it for about 4 years and replaced both upper and lower units twice. I keep hearing that there's no such thing as pre alpha but I get confused when looking for parts. i can't find good bellows for the outdrive and I was curious if I could use Alpha 1 Gen 1 bellows and gimbal bearing on my outdrive. I was driving home the other day and had a weird vibration then I went to turn and the vibration got worse and the boat just died. I have three batteries and a solar panel because my bellows keep going bad and my bilge runs every 15 mins. I was towed in by my mom and stepdad and im kind of worried i hurt the engine as well. Could you please help?

 

[Bt Doctur]

1 you have an active leak, remove the boat from the water
Given the age it could be:
main bellows, when they leak and water gets to the gimbal bearing it goes bad.
shift cable bellow, just leaks water into the boat
corroded hole in transom assembly
rotted hull
you wont know exactly unti you start removing the drive, and bellow for inspection.your bellow can be smooth or have a ridge, you need to know what one you have

 

[bbook83]

Get your outdrive serial number, which is usually stamped into the upper drive casing decal. Go to a site like mercruiserparts.com, which has a diagram lookup that will show the drives made in 1976 and the serial number range. The drive should have a decal with the type of drive,
like 888 or 235 for the Ford V-8s. Go to the bellhousing assembly to find the bellows and the gimbal housing assembly for the gimbal bearing. As the Dr just said, you need to get the drive off and see what is going on.

 

[abhsvs0ccer]

ok thank you. as of now my boat is one my moms neighbors lift so this weekend ill be bale to pull the boat out and check on everything but im pretty sure my main exhaust bellows went bad and caused the bearing to go. I just wasnt sure if it caused the boat to completely shut down.