This is a first.. pulled drive and whole gimbal bearing came with it! see pic!

[firebird1158]

I had seen water getting pumped out the side a few times and figured I had a bellows leak and then yesterday I had some knocking/grinding noise turning left and right and figured the gimbal was on it's way out.. even though I only replaced it beginning of last season....

Anyway when I pulled drive the whole gimbal bearing stayed on shaft and came out still on shaft.... I was dreading having to pull the stupid thing again as last time it didn't want to come out and ended up drilling the aluminum part of bearing to break it.. guess I won't have to do it this time.. but worried I put in wrong bearing or the gimbal ring is worn???

As you can see in the pic the shaft and bearing are very rusty but the bearing still turns on the shaft freely??? Anybody ever have this happen??

2000 volvo sx-m ??

 

[Don S]

Re: This is a first.. pulled drive and whole gimbal bearing came with it! see pic!

From the looks of the second picture, the bellows was not installed properly around the 10 oclock position. And what about the grease tube where you lube the gimbal bearing. Is it in place at all?

 

[firebird1158]

Re: This is a first.. pulled drive and whole gimbal bearing came with it! see pic!

I guess that would explain the water... the grease tube works as I remember pumping grease into the gimbal bearing when installed last season... Do you think I should clean up the shaft and put new ujoints and gimbal or replace the whole assembly?? ....

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: This is a first.. pulled drive and whole gimbal bearing came with it! see pic!

Yup, new u-joints and gimbal bearing and bellows in order!

 

[T-Max]

Re: This is a first.. pulled drive and whole gimbal bearing came with it! see pic!

...As you can see in the pic the shaft and bearing are very rusty but the bearing still turns on the shaft freely??? Anybody ever have this happen??...

Yes, that's how mine was also. And I also was quite surprised by that.

But I'm guessing that's how it should be. If you think about it, the gimbal bearing can't fit all that snugly onto the driveshaft or you'd never be able to remove the outdrive. So it has to fit loosely enough so that the driveshaft can slip out of it when you pull the outdrive. Which sets up a bit of a contradiction because it means that the driveshaft can spin 'freely' within the gimbal bearing instead of the gimbal bearing itself spinning as you'd think it should (which is the whole point of a gimbal bearing in the first place).

How did your rig ever get this rusty in just one season???

I'm thinking that if I ever get my boat going and into the water, I'm going to be pulling the outdrive at the end of each season's use just to see what there is to see and make sure there's no water in the bellows, yada yada. I assume your rig got this rusty because it sat around wet during all those months of the off season. Had you pulled the outdrive at the end of the season, I'm guessing that the damage wouldn't be as bad.