Gimball Bearing

[C-SIDE]

I had to replace the gimbal bearing on my sterndrive. I read on several sites that indicated that water penetrating the drive is the primary reason for this - this makes me nervous. I have to think there are several other reasons why this occurs - normal wear and tear?

thanks,
Chris

 

[Redhook98]

If not water intrusion, then because of shaft mis-alignment. I have a friend on his 3rd bearing in three seasons and he still swears it is not needed. No water intrusion each time. He is convinced that he keeps getting bad bearings and that no alignment is needed because he did not remove or move his engine.

 

[88 AmberRay]

If a new gimbel bearing is installed but not aligned after-wards the splines on the outdrive would not line up during re-installment of the drive!
The U joint bellows allowing water to get inside is the cause.

 

[C-SIDE]

Thanks. Maybe the prior owner was a moron and didn't grease the drive often either - who knows

Good thing I had that maintenance done otherwise that thing probably would have cost me big bucks if it failed

 

[320Bob]

Did they check your coupler out also? That I believe would be even bigger bucks, ~$1,500 which it cost me on my previous boat. It had the same engine and drive as yours.

 

[C-SIDE]

I assume they did as they took the whole thing off, but don't know for sure - its a good question to ask

 

[bankshotbankshot]

The gimbal bearing should not fail easily water intrusion (water in the gimbal bellow)
or shaft mis alignment

 

[Presentation]

The gimbal bearing should not fail easily water intrusion (water in the gimbal bellow)
or shaft mis alignment

Shaft misalignment in a outdrive? The engine can be misaligned but there is no way to adjust the shaft in a outdrive.

By the way, yes, there is more than one way for there to be water in the drive bellow.

I had water in my drive bellow, a brand new bellow, discovered this spring.

We are under the belief that the water came from the exhaust port inside the drive, over the O-ring, up and into the bellow. We have water that is heavy in lime. We could see the path the water took, identified with the white residue left behind from the water.

 

[bankshotbankshot]

Your right I meant engine alignment. I had an alpha on a smaller sea ray sport that had a pinched o ring on the high pressure side allowing water to pass by it and slowly drip water through the shift cable on the engine. This was a brand new boat also