Shift cavity water...

[nola mike]

Pulled the drive the other day. Had been dealing with a sticky shift shaft cable that had been worsening throughout the summer. Pulled the drive mid-summer and the cable seemed ok, so I pulled the inner, wiped/dry lubed and replaced (the cable is only about 2 years old, but got dunked with the boat). Problem progressed. Looks like signs of water entry. A couple of drops in there at most, pretty sure I would have noticed that when I last pulled the drive though. Anywho, I'm going to replace the cable with QS (last was sierra, which doesn't have a plastic coating on the cable), obviously replace the bellows. CV bellows were dry. I replaced the shift shaft seal with the newer style gen 2 in the past, but don't remember how long ago. Figure I'd replace that again as well (IIRC I don't need to press the housing out again?). Surfaces around the bellhousing gasket/gasket itself looked ok. Anything else anybody sees that I'm missing in the pic? Next summer is DEFINITELY the summer where I have everything working

 

[garbageguy]

...Next summer is DEFINITELY the summer where I have everything working...

I love this part...

 

[ROY WILLIAMS]

the molybdenum grease the bellows shift shaft and the drive shaft ...
inspected it of the rubber bellow ..the outdrive gasket was the silicone grease no corrosion of the gasket ,,, alum surface did the painting . also the gear oil inspected it ..

every year in the my October take it off outdrive inspected it ...

 

[Bt Doctur]

water can enter that cavity from a failing gasket or the gasket surface but another cause is a mis-installed water inlet O ring

 

[flashback]

water can enter that cavity from a failing gasket or the gasket surface but another cause is a mis-installed water inlet O ring

I experienced the O ring deal last year, it was actually pumping water up to the shift plate thru the lower cable.

 

[nola mike]

water can enter that cavity from a failing gasket or the gasket surface but another cause is a mis-installed water inlet O ring

Didn't think of that. The o ring was still in place, but it will be replaced anyway. I'll pay attention to the bellhousing surface and clean it out. I coat it with grease, doesn't look like it washed it at all (you can see it a bit in the pic).

 

[ROY WILLIAMS]

Didn't think of that. The o ring was still in place, but it will be replaced anyway. I'll pay attention to the bell housing surface and clean it out. I coat it with grease, doesn't look like it washed it at all (you can see it a bit in the pic).

O RING , GASKET BELL HOUSING THE SILICONE GREASE !!!! NO PERTROLEUM ............
THE SPARK PLUG WIRES SILICONE GREASE ! ALSO THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS ,,,,

 

[airshot]

O RING , GASKET BELL HOUSING THE SILICONE GREASE !!!! NO PERTROLEUM ............
THE SPARK PLUG WIRES SILICONE GREASE ! ALSO THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS ,,,,

DOW 111. Valve lube is a good heavy duty silicone grease that works very well....great for plastic, rubber neoprene and such. No petroleum products on rubber or plastics !!

 

[zellerj]

Hummm. Rubber seals are used all the time to prevent oil from getting where it does not belong, even in my outdrive. I agree that silicone grease might be better, but petroleum products are ok too on rubber. If I used a petroleum product on my rubber parts on my outdrive, I would not fret too much about it.

 

[ROY WILLIAMS]

Hummm. Rubber seals are used all the time to prevent oil from getting where it does not belong, even in my outdrive. I agree that silicone grease might be better, but petroleum products are ok too on rubber. If I used a petroleum product on my rubber parts on my outdrive, I would not fret too much about it.

NO OIL/PETROLEUM RUBBER PARTS ALSO THE PLASTIC DAMAGED IT ..
RUBBER IS OIL/GREASE AND THE SOFT RUBBER CRACKING IT ...

 

[airshot]

Hummm. Rubber seals are used all the time to prevent oil from getting where it does not belong, even in my outdrive. I agree that silicone grease might be better, but petroleum products are ok too on rubber. If I used a petroleum product on my rubber parts on my outdrive, I would not fret too much about it.

Newer rubber products are not actually rubber but neoprene and other synthetic materials. Your probably right that todays rubber like materials will stand up to petroleum products. However, real rubber will get eaten up by petroleum products. I don't take the chance, we never know for sure what type of material was actually used. I use the Dow111 for a variety of things and silicone is actually very good for both real and synthetic rubber type materials.

 

[nola mike]

If grease was causing significant damage to rubber components, 90% of the boats on this forum would be underwater.

 

[airshot]

If grease was causing significant damage to rubber components, 90% of the boats on this forum would be underwater.

Not really, how many actual rubber parts are on boats in the past twenty years ?? Damn few as real rubber is no longer used and hasn't been in ages !! To costly and synthetic rubber lasts longer !! No matter how you choose to look at it, even synthetic rubber mfgrs recomend a silicone base over petroleum base lubes for longer life.