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Replacing Bellows first time

J

journey

New member
"Hello everyone,
My boat is

"Hello everyone,
My boat is 11 years old and it's time to replace all the bellows. I guess I can say I have been real lucky that I haven't had any problems with the bellows leaking. I have a Mercrusier out drive Alph 1. My question is the marina where I'm keeping my boat is doing the work. I told them I wanted them to replace all my bellows. The service manage is suggesting that I replace everything as stated below...
Impleller
3/4 Water Hose
Gasket set-drive
cable-assy-shift
54" hose sender-Kit-alph /brv
Change gear oil
new sender/limiter-waterhose u-joint bellows exhaust bellows
shift cable & shift cable bellows
Oil hose foe gear lube reservoir
install bell hsg.-torquehing picswith loctite thread lock
Install outdrive-adjust sender& limiter

I have never rally had any outdrive work done except changing the impleller several times.

There cost for the above work is over $1500.00 not counting tax. On the estimate they have the above work, 11.5 hours @ $85.00 an hour (labor).

My question for you guys is...is all this work necessary?
Is 11.5 hours a bit long for the above work?

I have spoke with differnt guys in the boat yard and they are saying 4-5 hours no more than 8 hours.

I feel like I'm being taken advantage of here, what do you guys think? I appreciate any feed back on this.

Thanks,
Journey"
 
"With all the items on your li

"With all the items on your list, it looks like they are performing additional preventive maintenance to save you money in the long run by replacing items that may fail after the bellows work is done. Then you have to pay the labor again to tear it all apart to get to the $25 part.

The price qoute is about $136 for each year you've owned it. Not bad and it'll be good for another 10 years. Get a second opinion."
 
"Do you have tools, a place to

"Do you have tools, a place to work and are you fairly machanical?
If so I would get some manuals and stay close to this site and do it in a long day or easy weekend.
I have just started working on my boat and have found nothing that I could not do myself. YET that is. Again I say, manuals and this site!!!
As far as the hours go, the price per seems more than fair for a professional who has put in his time, bought tools, and has to constantly keep up with new things. The amount of hours seems proper from my opinion. I would stay away from the 4 hour guy. There is a lot of work here.
Just my un-informed opinion.


Good Luck
Jeff"
 
"I know if they change the imp

"I know if they change the impeller they have to change the gear oil because you have to drain it to get to the impeller. I am about to take that route myself. Bellows and hoses and shift cables are not hard to do, my boat jsut got all new ones and it was easy,,,,now if the impelleer is easy I would be very happy..."
 
"Jeff W:

Buy, beg, borrow o

"Jeff W:

Buy, beg, borrow or procure a Merc. manual for the year you need. I have a 1987 manual I can copy and send via email."
 
"Jeff;
The impeller is much e

"Jeff;
The impeller is much easier than bellows and shift cable replacement.

It is easier to remove the drive leg and change the impeller on the bench, then re-install the leg, in my opinion.

Rod"
 
"Thanks guys for all your resp

"Thanks guys for all your responces. The service manager that quoted me that low price of $500.00 to replace all belllows was fired from the marina. He screwed up alot of estimates. I do think it's a good idea to have the other parts replaced while they have the outdrive apart. I shouldn't have to do anything to the out drive except the normal maintance stuff for a couple of years. I still think 11.5 hours is still a bit high though.

Again, thanks to everyone that responded to my post.
Dale..."
 
"Hi Dale,

11 hours sounds a

"Hi Dale,

11 hours sounds a bit high!
get a great Merc Manual (sealoc)
I would replace all the billows, and if they're ok for now, why not do it in the fall?

TJ"
 
"Dale
Sooooo ...... This is t

"Dale
Sooooo ...... This is the first time you have attempted a set of bellows and the ones that are on there have been there for 11 years !!!

This is the type of job that if everything go's smoothly from my point of veiw you should be able to knock it over in about 6hrs so I would allow somewhere between 12 to 20

When I quote to do them I quote 8hrs if there are no problems but I will not do a fixed price quote only a guestimation as inevitably once you start there are going to be issues.

Make sure you have a manual and do it by the book, do not short cut any of the proceedures and dont be in a hurry as even though it isnt a particularly hard job, it is a time consuming one.

Do it once, do it right, do the lot, believe me for the bit of extra expense while you have it pulled down it can save you alot of money and heartache in the future.

Ther are repairers over here quoting around $2,500 to $3,000 to do a bellows/sterndrive service at upwards of $180/hr workshop rate.

Cheers
Peter C"
 
"Again thanks everyone for all

"Again thanks everyone for all you responces. My mechanic showed me the inside of my outdrive and all the hoses were cracked and dryed out. So I had them all replaced along with some other stuff (shift cable, impeller, etc). The work was completed on Thursday and I'm happy to say I'm in the water.
My final bill was just over $1500.00, for material and labor.
Everyone here...have a safe boating season!"
 
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