Broken universal joint

L

larsoslo

Member
Jan 1, 2014
63
Oslo, Norway
Boat Info
270 Sundancer 2000
Engines
383 Merc Stroker 6.2 w/Bravo III
After repowering from 7.4 to 6.2 on my 270 Sundancer and putting some 70s hours on the new engine, I came to a full stop a couple of days ago when my universal joint gave in trying to reach plane with 8 people on board. I would think that the on paper lower torque compared to the 7.4 would be easier on the out drive, but that joined snapped taking with it the bellows. Has anyone experienced the universal joint giving in, and is there something I should be concerned about or replace at the same time while doing this? The out drive is a BIII from '99 connected to a 383 Stroker from '15.

ce8fb6f23df1b0e90621c33c000ae4fe.jpg


9368c250b6437d6022330dec990817d9.jpg


----
270 Sundancer DA -99


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
With all that brown mud it's doubtful your drive was receiving annual maintenance and inspection.
 
Thank you for the concern, but it's off every season and serviced. It's not mud but rather oil and water. The picture isn't that clear unfortunately.
I was more thinking along the lines of other parts that tend to wear out and are possibly next in line for failure if the universal joint snapped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
larsoslo said:
Thank you for the concern, but it's off every season and serviced. It's not mud but rather oil and water. The picture isn't that clear unfortunately.
I was more thinking along the lines of other parts that tend to wear out and are possibly next in line for failure if the universal joint snapped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
There should not be any oil or water in the outdrive like pictured there; especially in the U-joint bellows. I can see water getting in after the failure of the bellows, but not oil... My guess is your U-joint bellows had worn to the point it allowed water into the U-joints, causing it to rust, seize and then fail. All new bellows are in order, along with a new shift cable while you're at it, and new U-joints!
 
Sorry. I meant to say grease and not oil. The bellows were badly torn up from the joint disassembling so hard to know their condition prior to this, but it is an interesting hypothesis to the cause of the breakdown. I did have the bellows checked earlier this spring. The boat has been used some 200 hours+ this summer. Do the bellows deteriorate faster with usage?

Is the shift cable an item that wears out and is replaced on a regular basis? That's a good tip. Thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Get it repaired with new parts and don't worry about it. How many hours were on that drive. Is it original to the boat?
 
It's original and has 1350 hours on it. Been a real trooper thus far with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I was hoping to keep it that way.

An alternative would also be to trade it in for an BIII X. Do these drives have significantly improved longevity? I only know they are rated for higher torque but don't know what is actually different and if I could make use of it with only a 6.2


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
larsoslo said:
Sorry. I meant to say grease and not oil. The bellows were badly torn up from the joint disassembling so hard to know their condition prior to this, but it is an interesting hypothesis to the cause of the breakdown. I did have the bellows checked earlier this spring. The boat has been used some 200 hours+ this summer. Do the bellows deteriorate faster with usage?

Is the shift cable an item that wears out and is replaced on a regular basis? That's a good tip. Thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yes, the shift cable will wear out over time and start giving you trouble when shifting into and out of gear. Now my experience is with an Alpha drive, so I could be completely off-basis here with yours. When replacing the bellows I always do the shift cable as its very easy to do at that point. And if you ever needed to just replace the shift cable, you'd have to do most of the job again.
 
it may also be prudent to inspect the gimbal bearing as well, I just replaced my gimbal bearing due to a driveshaft bellows failure which allowed water to get into the bearing- (a reminder to check/replace the bearing from the folks here- thanks again). when the gimbal bearing is out, you may want to look at the coupler thru the transom to see if possibly any damage was done there when the u-joints failed
 
I had a premature failure of the yoke on an alpha one. The seal surface was scored causing a gear lube leak. I discovered that when it let go completely from what looked like a crack in the metal.

Your new motor winds up more than the big block did. Those extra rpm's may have hastened an underlying issue. Do you often run with the drive up? That may also accelerate wear.
 
Looks like there will be quite a bit of replacing to do. The bell and gimbal housing both took a beating so I will have to replace them leading me to just replace the whole transom. This boat is giving me a hard time this season!

The picture shows the inside of the bell housing after having knocked off the hinge pins from the inside.

b5fe232072c7b89ad33b9d582d0f16f9.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,282
Messages
1,429,962
Members
61,150
Latest member
Wonderball2Swilm
Back
Top