Hello, my first post. Replacing the bellows in my 97' Alpha one mercruiser sterndrive. A few questions from the ignorant:
thank you
- My nameplates on the air cleaner say Alpha one Gen +. Does that mean Generation 1 or 2?
- My name plate says LH rotation however I could not remove my sterndrive with the shifter in reverse(as I was told to do in my SELOC manual) It slid out easy in forward gear. Is the manual wrong? What else could be wrong? How would I tell if I ruined my shift mechanism by trying to remove the sterndrive with it in reverse and prying and yanking on it?
- I disconnected the speedometer connector but I dont understand where that tube goes.
- My SELOC manual says you can replace bellows w/o removing bell housing. I was told no way by a mechanic. Should I just buy the full bellows and stern drive kit, take off the bell housing and replace everything that way?
- Would you recommend buying the bellows kit online? How would I confirm the kit would be the correct kit?
- Besides the star bit to remove bell housing, bellows adhesive and bellows expander is there any other specialty tool I might need?
thank you