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Gear oil in U-joint bellows

G

gene_d

Regular Contributor
I have a 1986 alpha 1. I just pulled the upper from the gimbal and my drive bellows has about 1 inch of gear oil in it.
Gear oil ran out when I pulled them apart.
I do not have the fill bottle in the boat, just fill from the bottom of the lower unit.
I suspect the seal at the front of the upper drive is bad?
I pulled it to replace the lower shift cable.
Am I correct with my assumption the seal is bad? Is there anything else that would cause this?
Can the seal be pulled from the front and replaced?
 
This merc is driving me nuts.
It started with a shifting problem last year.
It would not go into reverse. I replaced the shift carrier in the prop shaft last year and the boat worked good for the end of the season.
Problem came back now. After reading lots of posts I decided it was the lower shift cable.
I just pulled the upper drive,
The lower shift cable will pull the plastic end the whole way to the stop. I was thinking the cable was streched and could not do that anymore.
I went though the lower unit last season. The shift spool was replaced,(had lots of slop) the gears looked good.
When I shift the lower NOT attached to the upper, the shift will fully engage both ways.when I attach it to the boat It will not go into reverse, It almost goes, it clicks and just won't go in.
Anything else you can think of that would cause this?
 
I just started looking at the shifting on this.
I noticed on the bottom of the shift shaft, where it engages with the lower unit shift bar.
The channel shaped piece on the bottom of the shaft was bent and all out of whack. It was very sloppy on the lower.
I am installing the updated lower shaft seal, so I was able to put it on the lower and look.
I bent the piece back to square, and made the fit alot better.
I hope this helps.
 
Yes that u shaped piece is critical to the shifting.... Your "cedtified merc guy" should have looked and found this.

Cable adjustments may need to be redone...
 
I got this boat at a great deal.
The previos owner had shifting problems. He took it to a marina and paid $800 to have the shifting fixed. I have the bill. A new lower shift cable was installed, and I can see now it is the updated one.
The guy took the boat out, after paying the bill, and had nothing but problems with the shifting.
He hit someones boat at the dock (at slow speed) and the other guy was pretty mad.
Hence the cheap price.
This will be a heck of a story if bending a piece in a vice fixes it. I redid the lower unit also.
 
How deep are the pry-bar marks around the bell housing? My guess is someone did not shift the gear selector into drive before removing the outdrive and pried it off, or they did not line it up correctly when installing it and forced the drive on with the nuts.
 
listen a friend got a boat dirt cheap po could not fix the overheating.

What was it.

We pulled the drive and the flapper was blocking the exhaust.

This after the po had spent thousands on new mans and risers new engine mounted water pump, and new impeller.

New heat exchanger.

i found it in ten minutes.Maybe more i had a beer or 2 with my friend.

Certified shop also.
 
I had a great weekend with my merc.
Seems the bent shift arm was the problem.
I did put 3 new seals in the upper unit, and did the shift lever update.
I purchased a shift cable kit and the updated shift arm seal and bushing.
I did not install the shift cable. I only used the gimble gasket out of the cable kit.
The merc idled well and shifted into both gears great. It came from reverse to neutral perfect.
It was a little tougher to shift from forward to neutral, but did it with a little extra push.
Is there a cable I should turn a half turn or so to help this?

I set the shift cable at 6 inches with lower in forward, and set the control cable so it dropped onto the arm at that.
I greased the shift arm and that is working smooth. I will check the unit oil to see if my leak is gone.
Thanks for all of the help. Merc is near perfect right now. Just need a little tweak.
 
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