Westie
Active Member
- Oct 16, 2008
- 1,109
- Boat Info
- 2001 260 Sundancer towed with the power of an IFORCE V8
- Engines
- 7.4 L Bravo III
After getting a quote of $1500 to change all the bellows and the trim sensor and trim limit switch I decided to do it myself.
Had good weather on the weekend so I got it done without any real issues. It is pretty tight attaching all the bellows and getting the clamps on but a couple of things helped.
1) a flexible 1/4 inch drive extension for the socket wrench
2) the bellows expander tool from mercury to install the exhaust bellows is really handy.
3) I made the u-joint bellows ring installation tool myself. Not really that complicated to make.
4) You need the hinge pin tool. No way around this.
5) having lots of patience and some cold beer in the fridge for the end of the day is required.
So now the drive is almost done. I'm still waiting on a shift shaft bushing for the lower unit and once that is in later this week I will finish up and install the drive.
Then its on to redoing alot of the electrical work that the previous owner did, installing a batter charger/inverter and microwave, installing the GPS and installing a water heater.
Had good weather on the weekend so I got it done without any real issues. It is pretty tight attaching all the bellows and getting the clamps on but a couple of things helped.
1) a flexible 1/4 inch drive extension for the socket wrench
2) the bellows expander tool from mercury to install the exhaust bellows is really handy.
3) I made the u-joint bellows ring installation tool myself. Not really that complicated to make.
4) You need the hinge pin tool. No way around this.
5) having lots of patience and some cold beer in the fridge for the end of the day is required.
So now the drive is almost done. I'm still waiting on a shift shaft bushing for the lower unit and once that is in later this week I will finish up and install the drive.
Then its on to redoing alot of the electrical work that the previous owner did, installing a batter charger/inverter and microwave, installing the GPS and installing a water heater.
