Water when pulling stern drive

[Campfire]

So I winterized my boat and as I was pulling the stern drive, water immediately poured out after I cracked the seal. The bellows look good (I did them a few years ago). The thing that caught my eye was the large round rubber O ring that goes over the ujoint. Assuming the leak was because I knackered up the installation of my drive last spring and proceeded to boat for 60 hours in freshwater, what should I replace this off season? What does a bad ujoint feel like? Is it safe to assume I need to replace the driveshaft bearing even if the current one feels smooth? I am attaching a pic of the O ring.

 

[Rick Stephens]

That big o-ring does nothing unless there is also a leak from the bellhousing gasket, shift shaft seals or water passage oring. It prevents water from those sources from getting into the bellows. When you say water immediately poured out, was the bellows full of water?

 

[Campfire]

Rick, it was not a lot of water that came out. A few ounces. There was water in the main bellows that I soaked up with a towel. It streamed out lightly the moment I broke the bell housing gasket. Since I have never experienced this issue before, I am unsure as to whether the bellows was “full”.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Usually when the bellows are running with a bunch of water in it, the grease around the u-joints and gimbal bearing get mixed thoroughly with the water turning into a nasty slurry. If all you saw was a bit of water, then yeah, you probably had a little leak in the shifter pocket, from shift shaft seal or a funky water passage o-ring. That would be enough to push a little water into the u-joint bellows.

Very carefully check the u-joints by greasing them and looking to see if any water comes out of them and not just dirty grease. Inspect the gimbal bearing carefully to be sure it spins silky smooth. Grease it if grease-able with same look to see if any water pushes out.

If the seals on the shiftshaft are old, replace with new seals in the new style bushing. Easy fix.

Pull your shift cable as well and dry it out. Blow the housing out since it will have water in it that will cause shift problems later. Don't lubricate with anything, reassemble dry.

USe bellow cement to glue the big o-ring into the bell housing and you won't have that problem again.

Rick

 

[kenny nunez]

Rick explained the purpose of the ring. The main thing to prevent the ring from being damaged is to glue the ring in place and give the glue time to set. Trying to hold the drive up has a very good chance to tear the ring.
Always have the drive supported at the same level as the bell housing.
Achris has a video that is very helpful on the installation process.

 

[Lou C]

If you’re doing your own drive service each year a drive jack is a good investment

 

[todhunter]

Got a pic of where the big o-ring goes?

 

[Rick Stephens]

You need the correct Mercruiser manual to service your own drive. This screenshot is for a Gen2 Alpha.


Here's a screenshot.

 

[todhunter]

Thanks Rick. I've got an Alpha One Gen 1, and I do have the manual. I'll look into it.

 

[Campfire]

Rick,

Some water droplets squeezed out of the joints when I hooked up my grease gun.

I do have a drive jack (now) but I have never glued the big o ring. I will do that this spring when I reinstall the drive.

Think I need new u joints and gimbal bearing?

In my Mercruiser manual, there are quite a few parts associated with the shift shaft. Parts 7,8,9,25,26,27,28,29,30 and 31 seem like they could all play a part. Which parts are you referring to when you talk about new seals and bushing? My manual only has the old part numbers.
Thanks

 

[Lou C]

did the grease come out looking rusty? If so I'd replace for sure and replace the gimble bearing as a matter of course.
years back I had one bellow leak and at the time my mechanic (I wasn't doing all the I/O maintenance yet) really greased them up and they are still fine all these years later...that was in 2005! We did replace the gimble bearing though. That bellows was good till 2016 when I replaced it myself.
I use Lucas marine grease (blue) and when it gets water mixed in it turns a much lighter color so you can tell for sure.

 

[Campfire]

Lou, it came out looking dirty but not rust colored. It was about 10 drops of water that squeezed out ahead of the grease in each ujoint. About the same amount of water squeezed out of the gimbal bearing when I hit it with the grease gun. The joints externally have a nice patina to them (rust).

I have a permalube gimbal bearing or whatever is the current name for a bearing that cannot be lubed externally that came with my bellows kit a couple years ago. I got this boat for free so quite honestly, I should have replaced the gimbal bearing a couple years ago as baseline maintenance.

 

[Campfire]

Rick,

When you mentioned a leak in the shifter pocket, which parts are you referring to? Are you thinking parts 7, 8, and 9? (23-814308, 26-45587,

23-805041A2)​

 

[Lou C]

I think I'd replace both.

 

[muc]

That big o-ring does nothing unless there is also a leak from the bellhousing gasket, shift shaft seals or water passage oring. It prevents water from those sources from getting into the bellows. When you say water immediately poured out, was the bellows full of water?

This isn't correct.
The big o-ring is the most important part in keeping the bellows dry. The paper gasket is secondary.

As long as the water that came out of all 8 u-joint bearing wasn't rusty, you are probably ok. Same for the gimbal bearing.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Rick,

When you mentioned a leak in the shifter pocket, which parts are you referring to? Are you thinking parts 7, 8, and 9? (23-814308, 26-45587,

23-805041A2)​

Yes the upper bushing is also a seal. The lower one is just a bushing, no seal. Is your upper bushing the larger upgraded design like in your link? or do you have the original smaller bushing? You would also want to get a new shift arm/lever, they can be a bugger to try to remove without breaking. The set screw in it won't come out and the easiest way is to crack it off using a small cold chisel and hammer.

 

[Wateronthebrain]

Your photo shows exactly the problem I had recently...read my earlier reply to another members similar delema:
Recently my bilge was taking on water big time. I live on the Parker Strip in Arizona and we like to put our boats in the water and leave 'em over night on occasion. All summer my bilge would fill up a few gallons of water within a few hours. I had an automatic pump in there luckily so no problem but I could not find source of leak. Meanwhile, my U- bellows would fill up with water and thus started to rust the gimble bearing. So that being said, I knew I had to pull drive and replace bearing while thinking bellows needed to be replaced in case it was the source of leakage...
Anyway, while taking drive off, a three inch chunk of the round rubber O-ring that resides around and inside the U-joint assembly came flying out. This piece of rubber O-ring had gotten in the way of securing a truly secured mating surface last time I had installed the outdrive unbeknownst to me at the time. Anyway, upon reinstallation of new gimble bearing and out drive, I water tested the boat and gimble was smooth and quiet. Upon pulling her out of the river, I pulled the plug and low and behold...not one drip of water came out!
So this could possibly be a source to check when taking on water in the bilge...never would have noticed otherwise. Just sayin'... but what do I know?

 

[tank1949]

Rick explained the purpose of the ring. The main thing to prevent the ring from being damaged is to glue the ring in place and give the glue time to set. Trying to hold the drive up has a very good chance to tear the ring.
Always have the drive supported at the same level as the bell housing.
Achris has a video that is very helpful on the installation process.

can be a nightmare to install w/o some sort of OD stand with rollers. I welded one together that works only fair.

 

[Lou C]

Stumpy's Fab Works makes a very nice one, I've been using it for about 10 years. Saved a LOT of money not paying for outdrive R&R every year. It paid for itself the first year.

 

[Bt Doctur]

And that ring is installed with bellows/weatherstrip adhesive