stern drives...

[pelican]

stern drives:

lot of guy are quick to tell you "stern drives are junk","stern drives will cost you a fortune to maintain","stern drives allways break","stern drives,the drives are weak","stern drives,if the bellows leaks,the boat will sink on the spot"...well...from my experience,none of the above is true...far from it...


below,is a merc "alpha 1 gen II" drive,this drive is 11yrs old,the hydraulics - trim cylinders and all lines are original,the drive has never been "apart",water pumps have been replaced,this is the second time i've replaced bellows on this boat.the engine's also original,and the boat's wet stored,for the season - april to october,every year...

drives,the need to be removed every fall,upon winterizing the boat - do not skip this process - pull the drive ! there's no way to lube the fitting on the u-joint,without removing the drive,there's really no better way to inspect the drive shaft bellow,without removing the drive,and,last but not least,there's no way to lube the input shaft for the drive,with out removing that drive...again,do this,regardless of what mfg or type drive you have...

bellows:should be replaced every 5yrs.inexperienced people will tell you if the drive shaft bellow leaks,you're gonna sink,on the spot - WRONG ! way wrong ! on a merc,the water will trickle out of the "weep hole",only a small amount - as you can see in the pictures,the o -rings around the shaft these will seal the water at the gimbal bearing...
shift cable bellow:inexperienced people will tell you,it will sink your boat on the spot as well,again,wrong,way wrong ! the hole's slightly larger than the shift cable's outerjacket - small amount of water...
exhaust bellow:this will sink you on the spot,is what's said by the know it alls again - wrong,and again,way wrong ! the ehaust is sealed from water - the bellow just connects the exhaust to the drive...

drives:
the gaskets and o rings need to be repalced,when the drive's pulled - do not use a sealer,silicone,or weather strip adhesive to hold the gaskets/o rings.use a non metallic grease
be sure and use a "spline lube" for the input shaft,again,use appropriate spline lube...use a light coating of grease,non metallic grease,on all the bolts and tilt pins,along with the gaskets and o rings - this will help seal,as well as allow you to remove everything again,with little effort...

note the picture of the drive - that's all the dates,i've pulled this drive - scratched onto the housing - quite a while huh ? the drive's a 2000 - note the picture of the hull ID number...
again,this drive's 11 seasons old,not bad,huh ? this is typical of maintained properly stern drive power systems,they honestly are a pretty trouble free system.the horror stories usually come from old,unmaintained drives.

last word on bellows:
bellows will allow water to enter the boat,however,that water will not enter as much as the inexperienced people will tell you,the drive shaft bellow,if it's completley gone,a small amount will trickle through the "weep hole"-nothing extreme !
shift cable bellow,even if it's gone,the amount of water leaking in,is minimal...
why do boats sink at the dock,with leaking bellows ? bilge pump runs moure,no shore power/ charging system,battery becomes dead,boat sinks...

again,nothing wrong with stern drives,my own sea craft,is a stern drive powered boat,it's ran,and ran hard,a large portion of the boats i service and store,are stern drive powered boats,the results are similar,proper maintance practices are the key to a long life...i use and recomend mercruiser parts only,i avoid the cheap aftermarket parts.merc offers a "transom repair kit",this kit includes everything you need - drive shaft bellow,shift cable bellow,and exhaust bellow,water transfer tube,gimbal bearing,along with all required gaskets and o rings.i also replace the lower shift cable and the oil resevoir tube at the same time - all these parts need to be removed to perform a bellow replacement - there's no additional labor charge and the price is minimal.this whole operation takes approx 4hrs to complete - includes servicing the drive.the replacement gimbal bearings from merc are "perma lube",no anual greasing is required - i've got a few of these out there,with no problems...


questions ?