Bravo 3 "Cut gear lube hose to remove gimbal"?

[William Miller]

Going to do a bellows and bearing job on both Bell Housings.
I've seen several videos and threads found searching the process.
I have the manual.

Many have said to cut the oil hose so you don't break the fitting that goes thru the transom bracket.

A few questions:
1. I've seen one person cut it at a spot that's easy to get to. Then install a straight hose barb once the project is done. What size? What is the hose made of?

2. If I decide to replace the hose, are there any good tricks to disconnect the clamps and hose at the transom and the bell housing? The manual said the hose is 10" What about getting new clamps on?

3. I have eliminated the water pickup and have installed Thru hulls, strainers and crank mounted pumps. (This is the best thing I have ever done! So easy to maintain the impeller)
While my engines are out I was going to install the block off plates where that hose comes in the transom. I started to back out the bolts and got scared that they were going to break off. Not wanting to make things worse I STOPPED!
How likely is this to happen. I have seen that you have to remove that fitting to replace the oil tube connection if it breaks at the outside connector.
IS IT LIKELY THAT THE BOLTS WILL BREAK?

I really don't want the project to snowball!

Thanks for any help / Tips!

 

[Espos4]

I cut the oil hose in the middle when I was removing the gimble ring. Once it was out of the way, I used a brand new blade and kept scoring the oil hose lengthwise right on the hose barb and after a few times, it cut right through the hose and very easily came off the hose barb with no damage.

Keep both pieces and use them to cut the new hose to length. They use a plastic clamp if i remember correctly.

 

[Henry Boyd]

You might check with Mercruiser on water flow. When we added the through hull for engine cooling Merc specifically told our tech that blocking off water flow was not recommended. Yes, I know it is done and Merc even provides a kit. However in our case there was concern that the weight of boat and horsepower was already stressing the B3 and converting to a passive water flow might lead to overheating the drive. We ran the boat with the through hull and drive pickup with improved engine cooling.

 

[William Miller]

I cut the oil hose in the middle when I was removing the gimble ring. Once it was out of the way, I used a brand new blade and kept scoring the oil hose lengthwise right on the hose barb and after a few times, it cut right through the hose and very easily came off the hose barb with no damage.

Keep both pieces and use them to cut the new hose to length. They use a plastic clamp if i remember correctly.

So once removed, you were able to get the hose and clamps back on without too much trouble? Should I use a different type of clamp on the new one?
Thanks!

 

[William Miller]

You might check with Mercruiser on water flow. When we added the through hull for engine cooling Merc specifically told our tech that blocking off water flow was not recommended. Yes, I know it is done and Merc even provides a kit. However in our case there was concern that the weight of boat and horsepower was already stressing the B3 and converting to a passive water flow might lead to overheating the drive. We ran the boat with the through hull and drive pickup with improved engine cooling.

I did the thru-hull modification years ago. 1-1/4" Thru hull and strainers as merc recommends in their installation manual. The crank pump is a Sherwood 105.
No cooling issues except silt that plugged up my block and manifolds. That's why I pulled the engines. Rebuilt them and ready to go back in once I get this associated work done.
I installed a full closed cooling system on them too!
My opinion is that the boat is already overpowered. I can run about 45 flat out. But that's a lot for me these days in a glorified mobile home!

 

[scoflaw]

Use the merc hose, it's a very snug fit, use zip ties if you want but it's optional.

Not sure why you think the water hose fitting , plastic gooseneck, has any thing to do with the plastic oil hose fitting which attaches with an E-clip. Sure a stainless bolt can break off in the aluminum housing.

 

[William Miller]

Use the merc hose, it's a very snug fit, use zip ties if you want but it's optional.

Not sure why you think the water hose fitting , plastic gooseneck, has any thing to do with the plastic oil hose fitting which attaches with an E-clip. Sure a stainless bolt can break off in the aluminum housing.

After looking at the shop manual, I'm not sure either. Unless its for acess. But it was mentioned several times in my search results so I thought I'd ask.
The boat is over an hour away so I can't just go look.
I really don't want to break the bolts so I'm just going to leave it alone and put a plug in the hose that went to the old stock pump.

 

[Henry Boyd]

I did the thru-hull modification years ago. 1-1/4" Thru hull and strainers as merc recommends in their installation manual. The crank pump is a Sherwood 105.
No cooling issues except silt that plugged up my block and manifolds. That's why I pulled the engines. Rebuilt them and ready to go back in once I get this associated work done.
I installed a full closed cooling system on them too!
My opinion is that the boat is already overpowered. I can run about 45 flat out. But that's a lot for me these days in a glorified mobile home!

it’s not engine cooling, but drive cooling that’s the concern.

 

[William Miller]

It was recommended to cut the feed hose where it goes behind the gimbal which I did. It allows the water to flow thru the lower half of the outdrive to allow it to cool like when it was feeding the engine. When I did this I actually fed the cut hose thru the space between the gimbal and the housing to see what would happen. It flowed much more than I expected. I had that hose splashing on the upper gear case for a while.
I have no way of telling if it is getting hot enough to cause a problem.
I have had to leave the gear oil a little low in the bottle because it does expand a bit when it warms up. When I first got the boat (When it was new.) One bottle did overflow once.
I just keep it lower and keep an eye on it.

Do you have any experience or thoughts on drive showers?
It may or may not be overkill?

 

[Spark600]

I did the same thing and put on the drive showers just to be safe.
If you are over heating the oil it will small burnt and look black.
When I change my oil it look new.

 

[pyro]

If your engines are out you can also just pull the e-clip from the inside and push the entire through hull fitting out. That way it's much easier to get the hose attached with the clamp to the right angle fitting and then push it back in and re-install e-clip. Most people can't do this because they don't have the luxury of access to that damn e-clip.

 

[BillK2632]

Since your engines are out - I would buy new fittings and replace them. The things are plastic and as they age they get very brittle - mine just snapped the minute I touched it. Go ahead and replace the hose from the gear lube bottle and between the transom assembly and bell housing. Trust me, one of these things breaks after you put the engines back in, you will play hell getting this fixed.

Fitting: 861150T02
Gear Lube Hose: 32-8M0062600