Bravo 3 leaky bellows

[stefan_r]

I had a new bellows kit 2 years ago and this year during routine maintenance the gimbal bearing and universal joint are both corroded and need replacing.

Somewhat disappointed with this, call made to MerCruiser (EP Barrus) who said they had several of these failures but didn't have a "fix" for it. Bellows installed by MerCruiser main dealer.

Having a separate discussion about who is going to pay for what....question is does anyone here have a "fix" for this issue????

Have looked elsewhere online and found a couple of threads...but they're mostly talking about fitting them right in the first place (assume main dealer did this AND EP Barrus have accepted a number of failures have occured).

 

[spannerman]

I see you have Yanmar motors, and these when fitted to drives usually have their own seperate seawater inlet through the hull, and the inlet from the drive is blanked off on the inside of the transon shield.
If yours has this setup then its imperative that the 'S' hose between the transom and drive has about 2" cut out of it, as this then allows the water which is forced in through the water inlet on the drive under way to circulate through the upper section and provide much needed cooling on this engine / drive combination.
If the water has no way out then the pressure can cause it to leak past the 'O' ring between the upper section and the gimbal housing and force its way into the bellows.
We have had about 6 of these failures because the boat manufacturer didn't understand you can't just block off the water intake on Bravo drives.
Maybe worth checking the installation is correct on your boat.