Stern drive will not come off

"Hi, i have a Mercruiser stern

"Hi, i have a Mercruiser stern drive (MR Drive) that won’t come off. I have removed 6 bolts on the drive and 2 off the rams in forward gear, still wouldn’t budge. I pulled the Engine 3.0 140hp and used a heavy hammer on the drive shaft, the drive unit hasn’t moved at all so i the remove the pinion nut in the upper drive as well as the studs that hold the drive on the bell housing, i cant get the drive to move at all. This is driving me mad. The drive it self appears to be in good condition with no corrosion at all. Please help as i would like to get my boat going . Thanks"

"Daniel

Sounds like your dr

"Daniel

Sounds like your drive shaft is siezed in the Gimble bearing, I had one of mine do the same thing about 6 months ago, when I finaly got the drive to come off the gimble bearing came out with it.
You have a couple of notches in the casting where the leg bolts up to the bell housing, you are going to have to something you can lever with in at these points and just keep working the leg till it comes off.
Now you have the engine out, just soak the area where the drive shaft gos through the gimble with penatrene as well and keep on working it.
Good Luck
Cheers
Peter C"

"Hey Peter, i thought that was

"Hey Peter, i thought that was the case, thats why i removed the pinion nut in the upper housing as my Seloc manual advised, i had to make a spanner to suit as most of this nut is hidden in the upper pinnion gear, by removing this nut my drive should have come off leaving drive shaft stuck in place, allthough this is not the case drive wont budge. As for the notches i lever so hard that it feels like the case is going to break if i pry any harder. Any other info would be appreciated. Thanks."

Daniel

Whoever had the leg

Daniel

Whoever had the leg off last time may have used something like a eurathane sealant on the big oring that seals the leg into the bell housing.
if there is enough excess sealant there it will be holding onto the leg.
Is there any movement at all or is the leg still flush with the bell housing?
It is surprising sometimes just how tight they can be to remove it is probably going to be just a case of working it loose milimeter at a time.
Cheers
Peter C

"Leg is still flush with the b

"Leg is still flush with the bell housing. Sealant looks like it may be holding it, Should i try to heat bell housing or can i remove the bell housing with the leg still on if i pull out the pins?
Thanks"

"Put the trim rams back on.pla

"Put the trim rams back on.place a 5in. 2X4 between the top cap and transom, hit the up button. the drive will come off."

"the yoke will not pull out of

"the yoke will not pull out of the upper. it is held by the bearings, spanner nut."

"Hi all,

No luck tried eve

"Hi all,

No luck tried everything, jammed a hard wood block between top cover and transom as allan in st pete mentioned whilst the block was loaded i heated the bell housing and hit the drive shaft with a hammer from in the boat (the engine is out) drive didn’t budge. Think it’s time to remove the bell housing and replace the lot, shame really as i only needed to replace the shift cable.

Thank you for your input."

"I'm a little nervous abou

"I'm a little nervous about this, but it may not be real.

quotes:
... in forward gear, still wouldn’t budge.
... as i only needed to replace the shift cable.
unquote.

If there is a shift cable problem, are you absolutely sure it is in forward gear?

Good luck, I can tell this is a real pain."

"shift cable still works its i

"shift cable still works its is really tight though, even with the lower leg off the stern drive, i have removed shift cable at the stern and pushed it all the way in. This is real i will post some pics tonight."

I agree with David R Cole. It

I agree with David R Cole. It has to be fully engaged to take the lower unit off. I learned the hard way.

"Daniel;
Did you have any luc

"Daniel;
Did you have any luck yet with this?

I can't beleive that it could be the shift shafts holding it up, as you would still get some separation in the joint even if the shafts were still engaged.

It sounds to me like some idiot used some kind of adhesive sealant that is holding the joint fast. There is supposed to be no sealant of any sort used on ths joint. You can use a light coating of grease on the gasket if desired, nothing else.

Its possible that the drive shaft is rusted into the gimbal bearing, but you should have been able to break it loose by now, or the gimbal bearing itself should have come out with the shaft. One or the other.

Since you have the engine out, why not try a sleeve over the shaft that fits up against the gimbal outer race and beat cautiously around the perimeter. This will assure that the gimbal is not seized in place.
If that does not get it moving, you are back to the sealant at the drive leg joint. That's about the only other thing that can hang it up.

As a very last resort you could try heating around the joint from the belhousing side to see if you can release the sealant. You will destroy the paint, but you don't have much to lose, as the drive is useless anyway unless you can get it apart to make the repairs, right?

Rod"

"Hi Rod,

No luck yet adhes

"Hi Rod,

No luck yet adhesive sealant is probably the case.

I have ordered a hinge pin tool from my local boat shop, hoping to pull bell housing with leg on it i may be able to press leg out from back of bell housing, something’s has to give or break eventually lol.

Thanks for everyone’s input."