Trouble reinstalling outdrive

"I have just replaced the gimb

"I have just replaced the gimbal and bellows on my merc 165 (pre alpha).
I took my time and everything went well- that is until I went to re-install my outdrive!
I could not get the drive to slide fully into place. I rechecked the alignment, and thought I might not have the splines lined up.
Tonight in a last ditch effort, I yanked the motor out and tried again to install the drive. still no luck. I undid the bellow, and found that the shaft is stopping in the gimbal just past the first o-ring.
I surely don't want to pound on the outdrive, but I am fast appraoching that point!!!!
Am I missing something? Do I have the wrong gimbal? it fit into the gimbal housing good.
Can someone please help!!!!"

"Lets see ,did you check for f

"Lets see ,did you check for fit of the bearing on the shaft before you installed it,,do you have the correct O rings,what did you use to install the bearing?"

"It could be the O rings. I ju

"It could be the O rings. I just worked on a drive for a friend and used a Sierra gasket kit with O rings and had a biatch of a time getting it on. Later, when the drive needed to be removed to replace the shift cable bellows (sure, it worked fine the first time out and then cracked after the second time when it was raised), I got a Mercruiser kit and I could have gotten it to go in by blowing gently on it. It doesn't take much of a size difference to make it really hard going on."

"The bearing is seated right,

"The bearing is seated right, I took alot of time to ensure that! I did not give the o- rings a thought- but now that you mention it, i didn't replace the o-rings, the old ones are still on the shaft! I will try that tommorrow after work......Thanks"

"Jeff,
Make sure that there i

"Jeff,
Make sure that there is grease on the O-rings. The old ones should fit with no problem. If they were new I'd expect trouble getting them in.
Don't forget the bellows sealer and spline grease on the drive shaft.

good luck."

"ok, the out drive is in. for

"ok, the out drive is in. for some reason I did not check the shift leg from the lower unit. It was in reverse! tomorrow I'll drop it in the lake
Thanks for all the input."