SX outdrive stuck or was now broke :(

[Lou C]

The good news is once you get it fixed, if you are going to keep the boat as long as you remove it at the end of each season it will come off. Just be aware of developing problems esp noises from the area right behind the coupler. I’m sure that this was a failure of the bellows which rusted the gimble bearing and caused it to rust to the drive shaft and/or coupler. BUT, you can be sure this was making noise for a while. A good set of ujoints and gimble bearing should be totally silent. So following up on noise issues and pull the drive once a year and you should have no chronic problems. Mine still has the 33 year old original ujoints and I replaced the gimble bearing once back in 2005. 100% salt water use moored in salt 6 months every season. So see you can make these work in the harshest conditions just maintain it without fail.

 

[bigtoe]

Remove the pinion gear retainer screw using a FTX-500 Torx bit. Then you should be able to pull it off the splined bit of the UJ.
I believe you can then remove the pivot housing to give you some clearance to get some penetrating fluid in the gimbal bearing area which I expect is what is holding things together. From that point I expect brute force will be needed to get the gimbal bearing out. This will save you having to remove the engine.
Alternatively take the whole outfit to a good Marine workshop.

 

[bigtoe]

The good news is once you get it fixed, if you are going to keep the boat as long as you remove it at the end of each season it will come off. Just be aware of developing problems esp noises from the area right behind the coupler. I’m sure that this was a failure of the bellows which rusted the gimble bearing and caused it to rust to the drive shaft and/or coupler. BUT, you can be sure this was making noise for a while. A good set of ujoints and gimble bearing should be totally silent. So following up on noise issues and pull the drive once a year and you should have no chronic problems. Mine still has the 33 year old original ujoints and I replaced the gimble bearing once back in 2005. 100% salt water use moored in salt 6 months every season. So see you can make these work in the harshest conditions just maintain it without fail.

We removed the screw but can’t seem to remove the gear . Any suggestions ?

 

[bigtoe]

We removed the screw but tried to pull the gear but it’s holding firm, we tried to pull it using a bolt on the uj spline. The uj went in as we turned the bolt but the gear would not budge from position . We then pulled the uj back onto the gear with the torx bolt thinking it might move the gear , but no movement.
is there something the other side holding the gear in place ?
Tganks

 

[kenny nunez]

The gear is a press fit. You might have some luck with a gear puller that can reach around the remainder of the retainer and with the torx bolt removed and the puller against the shaft. Once the retainer and gear are removed then you can remove the pivot housing and try pulling the shaft out but it still will not because the shaft is corroded in the coupler.
Find a friend with a cutting torch.

 

[bigtoe]

Yeah we tried a puller but instead of the gear coming out it just pushed the drive in !
thanks

 

[Scott Danforth]

i know what I would do, however its a brute force approach. weld a ring onto the gear, hook a chain onto said ring, hook the other end of the chain to a tree and yank the sucker off. something will give, something will break. However it will move.

you are already replacing the outdrive and most likely the transom shield.

 

[bigtoe]

i know what I would do, however its a brute force approach. weld a ring onto the gear, hook a chain onto said ring, hook the other end of the chain to a tree and yank the sucker off. something will give, something will break. However it will move.

you are already replacing the outdrive and most likely the transom shield.

Really !!!!

 

[bigtoe]

Ok after spending another morning on this I am convinced the uj drive shaft is not stuck.
I can using a puller push the drive shaft towards the engine as the spline moves in on the large gear showing . I can then pull the spline back out onto the gear using the securing bolt.
I cannot however remove the gear from the spline even though the spline moves inside the gear. Is there anything else stoping this gear from being removed?
also whilst o had the bolt out of the spline/gear I thought I should be able to pull the gear housing out of the pivot housing , seeing as the spline moves on the gear.
So I drilled and tapped the gear housing to then use some nuts as a puller against the pivot housing but that housing would not move at all. Not a fraction! I even snapped two of the studs that I screwed into the housing as a puller. So I am convinced the seized part is the gear housing to the pivot housing.
any ideas how to get the gear out of the broken housing? If I could remove it and the bearings I might be able to either cut the housing out of the pivot housing or maybe use a slide hammer ??

 

[kenny nunez]

If the bearing flange is actually bound in the pivot housing then if you remove the large socket head bolts then the shaft and pivot housing may come out as 1 piece.

 

[bigtoe]

If the bearing flange is actually bound in the pivot housing then if you remove the large socket head bolts then the shaft and pivot housing may come out as 1 piece.

Yes thanks for that , I thought that might be the case , I’ll give it a go

 

[dypcdiver]

This I don't understand, because the bearing carrier buts up against the rubber of the bellows in the pivot housing. Do you have access to the Hose clip on the bellows at the Transom shield? You might want to undo that as well if you can.

 

[bigtoe]

Hi yes I do and i have already released the jubilee clip . In the first drawing the number 5 could that be stopping the gear number 16 from being removed ?
so as I see it if the spline of the uj shaft number 2 , slides in and out of the bearing number 16 the shaft must also be sliding in the gimble bearing? There would be no angling of the uj inside the bellows would there ?
so in turn if the shaft number 2 moves in and out the only thing that can be holding it in place is the housing number 11 in the first image , to the pivot housing which is number 11 in the second image ?
Thanks for the reply

 

[bigtoe]

I might also add I had no noise or vibration from the drive , I just wanted to remove it and grease it all as I hadn’t done so for around four years

 

[dypcdiver]

Have you sorted this out yet?

 

[Wave34]

What keeps your gear from being pulled is the inner race of the bearing #10. It is press fit, but not that hard. On a bench, only a hammer and tube is enough to make the gear move.

So, try to find a way to pull on the gear, or pry, and it should go out.