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One of the issues we knew about before purchasing the boat, was a bad shift cable bellows. For those who don't know, the shift cable bellows is basically a rubber boot that provides a seal around the shift cable at the point where it penetrates the transom. The bad shift cable bellows was noticed by the cracked rubber material failing to provide a solid seal around the cable. Think of this as a hole in the transom approximately 1 inch in diameter. Of course this caused the boat to take in water while we were stationary during our test run -- while moving fast it didn't seem to take in much water at all. The bilge pump kept the boat relatively dry on the inside, but now that the boat is in pieces it is a great time to replace this stuff. While we are at it, a few other items are up for replacement as well.
Disassembly:
Prior to removing the engine, we had to pull the outdrive and put it aside for other work. Over the course of removing rotten wood, and otherwise preparing for the fiberglassing, we were able to take some time here and there to work on the outdrive. It was convenient to work on the outdrive with it sitting on the workbench.
We needed to replace the outdrive oil seal which requires taking out the gimbal bearing and associated race. Rather than purchasing a slide hammer used for pulling the gimbal bearing, my neighbor suggested using a PVC pipe. It worked extremely well with several soft taps, the bearing and race came right out.
Here you can see where the person who installed the gimbal bearing last hit the race, also notice the rust on the bearing itself. The ring on the far right is the outdrive oil seal. It should have a rubber seal on the inner side, but as you can see it's completely gone.
The small holes on the outer ring of the bearing allow grease to enter the bearing. They must be lined up with the grove on the inside of the race. When I pulled these two pieces apart, a lot of water came out of these holes. It's no surprise the bearing was a little stiff and showing signs of rust.
To gain better access to the inside of the gimbal housing, I tried to remove the hinge pins without knowing what it really involved. Did I mention I'm not a boat expert? Anyway, after some more research, a special hinge pin removal tool is required. No PVC pipe will help in this case unfortunately.
I ordered a series of parts and a couple tools. We decided to replace the rusted parts shown above, and had to order the gaskets and seals required when we're ready to put the boat back together. I also ordered a oil pan gasket as the engine looked to have a slight leak there. Once again, most anything showing signs of failure is being replaced before the engine and outdrive are back in the boat -- it's much easier to replace those things at this time. Once we're complete with this project, we don't plan to rebuild this boat anytime soon. With respect to the outdrive and engine, If it needs fixin' we're doing it now rather than later.
Now that we've run out of fiberglassing materials, we have time to work on the outdrive. We decided to put the gimbal bearing back in to get us started reassembling the outdrive. Rather than paying serious cash for a onetime use tool I decided to use some PVC pipe pieces again to help us carefully get things back together. Here is a tool that cost less than $6.00 we used to pound the race in. It's important to make sure you get the proper diameter tube. I would highly suggest taking your gimbal bearing assembly to your local hardware store and size them up just right. If you make a dent in the bearing casing itself, you will need to toss it out and get a new one. Once again, the size of the PVC tube must match the outer race of the gimbal bearing assembly . Here are some shots of the tool:
The lower right photo shows the Gimbal Bearing fully seated in. We also tested to make sure the grease hole was aligned properly by pumping marine grade grease in through the grease insert. We got it lined up properly as grease started oozing out of the bearing itself. Unfortunately we wiped up the mess before taking the photo, but you can still see the green grease left over.
We're not done with the outdrive repairs, more to come here. Until then...
Check out the work being done on the transom:
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