Bravo Three U-Joint Noise-gctid382617

[Guest]

Hey guys, I had a pinched water passage gasket last year in my bravo three drive which allowed some water to get inside the bellows and ruin my gimbal bearing. Well i replaced the gimbal bearing last year and all was quiet and good. Now I am getting a noise from what I believe to be the U joints. At the time they seemed okay and they are the sealed type so I couldnt even grease them.

Basically my symptoms are when in neutral I hear it, when I turn the wheel quickly from side to side the noise changes tone and returns as soon as I stop turning the wheel. Anyhow I will see how it sounds on saturday when I go out on the boat but I may have to replace before next season and was wondering if replacing the U joints can be done without removing the shaft from drive? I dont want to mess with that pinion nut, any advice appreciated!

[Guest]

Here is the diagram:



You have disconnect the u-joints from part #s 22 the yoke assembly, 24 the socket, and 26 the yoke gear end. But you do not have to remove part #26 from the drive to do so.

[Guest]

Alright perfect! I really didnt want to have to get involved with moving part #26 from the drive... It just looks like a pain in the butt. I will see how it sounds tomorrow out on the water and go from there.

thanks.

[Guest]

seawise wrote:
Alright perfect! I really didnt want to have to get involved with moving part #26 from the drive... It just looks like a pain in the butt. I will see how it sounds tomorrow out on the water and go from there.

thanks.

You don't have to remove 26.

with the drive off, very easy 6 bolts. Just remove the retainer clips, push out the tees with a C clamp and a spacer.

I usually remove the one from 26 first then the rest can be done on the bench.

It also wouldn't hurt to put some grease into the gimbal. You will find a zert on the port side of the drive.

Cheers

[2850Bounty]

If your Gimbal Bearing is serviceable, grease it with the engine at idle. Dynamic -vs- Static!

[Guest]

2850Bounty wrote:
If your Gimbal Bearing is serviceable, grease it with the engine at idle. Dynamic -vs- Static!

Yeah unfortunately my drive doesnt have a zerk fitting to grease the gimbal, its a sealed unit. the leg was manufactured in 2007 so maybe anything newer then that doesnt have that provision, im not sure...

Anyhow though we did go out for the day to Pirates Cove in the Gulf Islands and you could hear the drive growling, more so at lower speeds since at higher speeds hard to hear over the engine noise. So I guess I will have to pull the boat AGAIN! and pull the drive off check the gimbal and replace the ujoints for sure. Gimbal was replaced last year.

Ahhhh the joys of boating!!

[Guest]

Well I got an update on my noise for ya guys, and its not pretty.. I pulled the drive off and water was in the U Joint Bellow and of course the gimbal bearing was ruined, which was brand new as of last year. Also the U joints had water contamination, although they werent in too bad of shape. That bellow is only 3 years old, no rips or anything but maybe its leaking from the clamp or sleeve.

Next question,

I bought all the parts and I am going to get going at the replacement of everything tomorrow after work. Any pointers? Do I have to take off the hinge pins out to remove the bell housing to change the U joint bellow, or can I sneak around it? Ive already replaced the U joints so I am 1/4 of the way there.

I bought the install tool sleve for the u joint bellow. I also already had the gimbal bearing install tool. The only thing that I will have a little bit of a fight with is removing the Gimbal bearing with my automotive style slide hammer.. should be interesting...

Anyhow any suggestions would be helpful!

[Guest]

I have never done a bellow replacement, but many on here have. Do you have a manual?

Here is the directions from Mercstuff.com

http://www.mercstuff.com/bellowsreplacement1.htm

[Guest]

I have the Mercury Manual #28. It doesnt have all that much detail about replacing the bellow. But yeah I was kinda wondering if anyone was able to sneak it out through the housing. Hopefully they will chime in if they have.

Thanks for that link though, more detailed then what I got.

[Guest]

If the Bellows look OK then how is the water getting in?????...I had a similar problem found that the steering leaver Pin Seal was allowing water to seep into the boat, it dripped down the inside of the Transom onto the drive shaft and trickled back inside the bellows.

I would suggest that you check by putting some paper towel around the Tiller arm (With the boat in the water) If you do have this issue, gimbal bearings etc will continue to fail on a regular basis

Just passing on some info, that for me, was a painful lesson learnt.

Cheers,

Dave

[Guest]

good to know Dave,

thanks I will check that out as well.

[Guest]

Well I ripped everything apart tonight. I am stuck at the gimbal bearing removal because my puller that I have is not strong enough to pull it out. I took off the bell housing while leaving the shift cable in so I dont have to adjust it. Hopefully nothing stretches but I am being very careful. I popped the U joint bellow out through the top. It is not FUN. So now I have to make a puller tool to get this gimbal out of there. Fun and games...

Ill tell you one thing, my next boat is going to have straight shafts! Definitely no Sterndrive!!@

[2850Bounty]

seawise wrote:


Ill tell you one thing, my next boat is going to have straight shafts! Definitely no Sterndrive!!@

Don't give up on stern drives.

Any of the Gimbal System drives are going to be more difficult when replacing drive shaft bellows and/or a Gimbal Bearing.

FWIW...... the later main suspension fork/pivot tube geometry drives require a high school shop student and about 2 hours time to change drive shaft bellows and PDS bearing (which is a Gimbal bearing equivalent).

Unfortunately, this leads us away from Bayliner boats.

[Guest]

seawise wrote:
Well I ripped everything apart tonight. I am stuck at the gimbal bearing removal because my puller that I have is not strong enough to pull it out. I took off the bell housing while leaving the shift cable in so I dont have to adjust it. Hopefully nothing stretches but I am being very careful. I popped the U joint bellow out through the top. It is not FUN. So now I have to make a puller tool to get this gimbal out of there. Fun and games...

Ill tell you one thing, my next boat is going to have straight shafts! Definitely no Sterndrive!!@

The sad part is that you did not have to remove anything but the outdrive to replace the gimbal and U joints.

The shift cable releases and reconnect to the outdrive is automatic when you pull it out and put it in.

It should take max 1 to 1.5 hours for the whole job.

To pull the gimbal I use a 3 arm puller on a threaded rod and a piece of plywood with a hole in the center or a steel bar would do with padding across the bell housing (that should not have been removed).

Two big washers with grease in between them and a nut.

This will pull the gimbal straight out. Be careful of the seal unless you are also changing it.

go to this link for some good pictures.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_Pictures3.asp?dnbr=17721&ivar=images/COMMON/38665.png&inbr=952&bnbr=60&bdesc=BELL+HOUSING

Just an after thought on the bellows there is a top side to it marked on the bellows also be sure it is glued in as well as clamped.

Just reread your post. The bellows change is also done with the bellhousing installed. The back clamp is a bit of a bitch. I use a flexible (like a cable) nut driver and then tighten with a little 1/4 inch ratchet.

I am still thinking about this one. If it is not too late I would suggets you install your new bellows, then reinstall the belhousing, then do the gimbal.

Hope this helps.

[Guest]

check737 wrote:
The sad part is that you did not have to remove anything but the outdrive to replace the gimbal and U joints.

The shift cable releases and reconnect to the outdrive is automatic when you pull it out and put it in.

It should take max 1 to 1.5 hours for the whole job.

To pull the gimbal I use a 3 arm puller on a threaded rod and a piece of plywood with a hole in the center or a steel bar would do with padding across the bell housing (that should not have been removed).

Two big washers with grease in between them and a nut.

This will pull the gimbal straight out. Be careful of the seal unless you are also changing it.

go to this link for some good pictures.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_Pictures3.asp?dnbr=17721&ivar=images/COMMON/38665.png&inbr=952&bnbr=60&bdesc=BELL+HOUSING

Just an after thought on the bellows there is a top side to it marked on the bellows also be sure it is glued in as well as clamped.

Just reread your post. The bellows change is also done with the bellhousing installed. The back clamp is a bit of a bitch. I use a flexible (like a cable) nut driver and then tighten with a little 1/4 inch ratchet.

I am still thinking about this one. If it is not too late I would suggets you install your new bellows, then reinstall the belhousing, then do the gimbal.

Hope this helps.

Well the entire job is done and the boat got launched today at 430, just before they closed down the boat yard. I went to work today and I made a gimbal bearing puller. It worked great, took about 1 min to set it up and remove the gimbal bearing. I bought some Ready Rod and made a swivel puller. Hard to explain but ya its all done now.

As for the bellows I tried to remove it with the bell housing on and it was tight but after I ripped out the wire that holds the U joint bellow outwards it came out. It appeared to be way to hard to reinstall the bellow without removing the bell housing so I just ripped it off so I could feed the bellow through the top. It did work and yes the back clamp is a PITA. But I did put the top up and installed it with bellows adhesive and tightened it down.

Also my transom assembly doesnt have a oil seal, I have the permalube gimbal bearing with no grease zerk so those transoms dont come with the oil seal.

Once launched the boat ran like a champ, no bearing noise, nice and quiet again! Now I just hope water never gets back in there!