Is the bellow house damaged?
What? No, no to all of that.
That's what you have to determine. We can't see that fromt he photo. You need to turn the steering all the way one way and then look and feel the bellows (looking for hole, splits, wear or damage), then turn the other way and check the other side. Also don't forget to check the bottom. But only you can do that.
The cheapest bellows and other parts are about the WORST thing you can put on. They are more difficult and don't last very long. I HATE Merc (personal reasons), but their rubber parts are the best... By a long way.
If it were mine, I'd be replacing bellows, gimbal bearing, unis and shift cable (you can see water has been laying in the slide cavity). I'd probably take the bell housing off completely and give it a thorough clean. I'd also be taking the yoke out of the drive and disassembling the seal and bearing pack as I suspect the seal surface on the yoke is rusted to hell and back. It'd be a new yoke or a speedi-sleeve. And at that point I'd be inspecting the drive gear bearing pack bearings, with a view to putting new ones in.
So OP has already said he intends to stick a gasket on it and just slap a different drive on. So his/her list is a little shorter since hopefully the replacement drive is sealed up and u-joints are good. - There is certainly a lot more than only a gasket and an o-ring needs doing before it just gets even more expensive. But up to the PO.
I find it 'interesting' that people come to these forums for advice, then complete ignore it and do what they were going to do anyway. Seems a waste of (everybody's) time to me...
Yes, my post #4 was trying to figure out how he got to #3 from post #2
i believe he was just asking a few questions. Although he's clearly not fully understanding the problem he is having, it's not your call to pass judgment.
I've always said the quickest and cheapest way to do a job is to take your time and do it right the first time...
