Seized gimbal bearing

"The marina where i keep my bo

"The marina where i keep my boat, has replace the bellows etc.. and the gimbal felt a bit rough, so I asked them to replace that as well. They are telling me they can't get it out? They have assured me they are using the right puller, but it's in there tight, and even a slide hammer is not working.. Has anyone here ever had this problem before? And any hints on how to get it out? I don't know anything about their mechanic, or what leval of experiance he has.. and Frankly I'm worried..."

Yes I have had this problem be

Yes I have had this problem before. I made a tool just for such a problem bearing.
What needs to be done is a plate needs to be made from 1/4" thick steel wide enough to cover both bottom studs that hold the drive on.
The gimble ring needs to be installed for this to work.
Drill five holes in the plate. Four that will allow the plate to be bolted to the gimble housing and one in the center so it will line up with the center of the gimble bearing.
Now you need to find a bearing puller tool that will go through the gimble bearing and hook on the back side of the bearing. The shaft on the puller must be long enough that it will come through the plate on the gimble housing.
The puller shaft will need to be at least 1/2" with fine threads far enough down the shaft that it will allow the tool to pull the bearing out.

So the short of it is place this puller through the plate and tighten the nut on the puller and it will pull the bearing out. Works EVERYTIME.

Sorry my mistake. It's the

Sorry my mistake. It's the four upper studs that hold the drive on.

"This apparently has been trie

"This apparently has been tried.. The tool you discribe is basically the same tool the Merc sells for pulling the bearing.. The Marina has assured me they have the correct tool.. Like I said above what worries me the most, is they say they 'can't get it out which makes me wonder about the experiance of the mechanic! Now I've pulled rusted out cruddy old bearings from 50 year old compressors, they were tough. but I got them out.. I 'did' find some info to confirm to them what I had already suggested, and that is to drill the race, and apply some heat to the bearing if it was loctited, or to the gimbal housing with a cold rag in the bearing.. I will wait and see what happens... The engine is a 1989, so there is no 'clip' to remove, and it only has 350 +- hours on it so it's not excedingly dirty.."

This is not the type of bearin

This is not the type of bearing you think it is. It doesn't have a hard flat surface like an axle bearing. If you have not seen one have them show you a new bearing so you have a better idea of what you are dealing with.
Did they try having pressure on the puller and then using the slide hammer to break it loose? This takes a large slide hammer if it is that well set. A 10 pound slide hammer. One or two raps will break it loose most of the time. They will need to have the slide hammer on the end of the puller shaft. Do not pull on the plate. Double check that there is no retainer ring just to be sure. You are correct in that there should not be one.
This bearing should not be this hard to remove.

The slide hammer is extreme use.
I've only needed to do this a few times and those were old salt water heaps that had not been apart in ten years or more and had been leaking salt water into the bellows for a long time.
Heat is not a good idea in this case. Once you see the bearing you'll understand. The last thing you need is someone with a freaking blow torch in the gimble housing. This metal does not like heat. It's cast metal and will become weak if it is heated to much.

You also do not need to remove the complete bearing with it's retainer housing. You can remove just the bearing part.
Check with the folks at amarket.com.
They have done a lot of this type of repair and will help you at no charge. Very nice people to work with and well worth the call. You can get their number off the web site.

How nice to hear that merc made my tool. I made this back in 75.

I have had them so corroded th

I have had them so corroded that it took pulling the engine and driving it out from the inside.
IT WILL COME OUT without heat.

"Well, this one is not corrode

"Well, this one is not corroded, It's a fresh water boat, with about 350 hours on the engine and there is no corrosion that can be seen anywhere... It's only been exposed to the water for a couple of weeks, and about 12 hours of running time..The bellows opened up on the day the boat was launched.. figures eh! .. If these guys have the right tools, (as they say they do) I can't see what the problem is.. I will be at the marina tonight, and if they still have not been able to remove it, It's on a trailer, and I will haul the boat to another shop.. I have not seen what they are using, but if they've spent a pile of time trying to beat it out with a 2lb slide hammer, I hope they don't expect me to pay for their education!!"

I have to go along with you on

I have to go along with you on that Bill. It seems that more & more shops want the customer to pay for their lack of education & tools while learning how to repair the vehicle or boat they are working on.

As stated before this is not a hard part to remove and should be very easy given the condition of the boat.

Sorry but I can't tell you what their problem is but it does sound like you had best find another mechanic.
Good luck.

"Well, When its all over and d

"Well, When its all over and done with I will post the results...
Thanks guys..."

"Well, folks, the bearing is o

"Well, folks, the bearing is out... They used a heavy jack screw puller, and gave it a tighten every 45 minutes or so since yesterday. Low and behold, the bearing moved. When it finally came out, they think it was an oversized bearing/case.. because they said you could actually feel the bumps embedded from the tolerance band around the inside edge of the housing.. They said it was almost like it was swaged in there.. How normal would this be??"