2001 Mercury 25 HP lower unit driveshaft sleeve?

[pjengel500]

Hello Fellow Boaters! First time poster here. I checked the Mercury Service Manual, and it makes no mention how to remove and replace the brass/aluminum driveshaft bearing sleeve (part #41121, #2 on the lower unit driveshaft parts diagram). Mine is pretty pretty corroded a couple of millimeters into the seal surface. Anyone have experience removing and reinstalling the sleeve in the lower unit? Is a special pulling tool required? Perhaps a trip to my local machine shop is required? Thanks in advance.

 

[Fun Times]

That I can recall generally speaking here, ‘this part of lower gear case housing was always suggested in Merc service school was to not remove this part as it’s possible you could or would do severe damage to the housing plus you’d have to reset it in the unknown to us? proper height tolerance specification that as you found isn’t mentioned in the service manual and about the only thing mentioned just under/after the step of removing the drive shaft bearing, Step 3 says: Do not remove gearcase sleeve (not shown).

Upper Drive Shaft And Bearing/Seals - Mercury/Mariner 25 MARATHON Service Manual [Page 236]

Mercury/Mariner 25 MARATHON Manual Online: Upper Drive Shaft And Bearing/Seals. 1. Using Water Pump Cartridge Puller (91-27780), as shown, remove the driveshaft oil seals from gear housing. a-Oil Seals b-Water Pump Cartridge Puller 2. Using suitable mandrel drive upper drive shaft...

www.manualslib.com

Bearing Carrier; Reassembly; Drive Shaft Bearing And Seals - Mercury/Mariner 25 MARATHON Service Manual [Page 243]

Mercury/Mariner 25 MARATHON Manual Online: bearing carrier, Reassembly, Drive Shaft Bearing And Seals. 1. If Inspection Of Bearing Area On Propeller Shaft Determines That Replacement Of Bearing Inside Of Bearing Carrier Is Required, Remove Bearing From Bearing Carrier. 2. Secure...

www.manualslib.com

That mentioned, should you give it a try anyway, it would seem that you’ll have to remove the bearing under the sleeve, measure and mark everything as precisely as possible, then possibly after adding some heat as carefully as possible, get under the sleeve and pull it out slowly maybe adding oil as it comes out all without any specific special tools from Merc that I recall anyways…Maybe one of the others here will chime in that knows more about performing this step successfully via past physical experience.

Should it come out without damaging the housing, sometimes freezing parts such as these for a few hours before installation can help get it/them in just a bit easier.

Just know there’s a risk at replacing this part even though they sell it separately as you found.

Let us know, good luck.

 

[pjengel500]

Thanks so much for the insight Fun Times, very helpful and much appreciated. Maybe we will hear from folks that actually completed the procedure. Is there a way I can reach out to you directly if I have any additional questions regarding the 25 HP Marathon/Sea Pro?

 

[Coltonjoiner]

Hey, I have the same motor with the same issue. What did you end up doing to fix it? Were you able to pull that sleeve out with some heat in a little bit of a elbow grease or is there something specific I need to do before I pull it out?