My sterndrive's buggered - help please

ok, so real progress being made now... shaft is decoupled from the UJ and I've removed the hardest two end caps where the UJ connects to the sterndrive body... in effect, the 3 sections of the yoke assembly are now dismantled.

There are wo more caps to remove from the UJ assembly: I've left these two for last as they're the one's that had cracked so I wanted to practice on the others before touching them..

This picture clearly shows the damage.

CIMG0179.jpg


Rotating the Cross Bearing shows just how bad they had become, remarkably quickly i.e. in the space of going from Cowes to Port Hamble it started to fall apart... lots of crunching when I turn the UJ.. the broken end cap can now be clearly seen. Also note the burring on the top exposed trunnion, I reckon that must have been on the way out too.

The other two end caps in the same part of the UJ are the two I cocked up:o Now this section is detached from the rest of the UJ, I should be able to push the reminents of the cap out with an appropriately sized socket and a large rubber mallet or lumpy, taking care not to scratch the inside of the holder.

Here's a picture of my cock up
CIMG0180.jpg


cheers Gary
 
Good interesting stuff Gary, and steady progress, well done. Takes me back to my Triumph Herald days when I had all sorts of UJ/rear diff issues. Several good smites with a 2lb Brummie screwdriver were the order of the day. Parts were easier in those days, from the local tat yard, or straight from the Triumph factory:rolleyes:

Following your tribulations with interest in case I suffer the same problems.
 
I'd have been tempted to buy the £99 upper unit on Ebay you posted a link to and use the non rusty input shaft from that with new bearings. When they are not rusty, they come out very easily!

Graham
 
GrahamHR said:
I'd have been tempted to buy the £99 upper unit on Ebay you posted a link to and use the non rusty input shaft from that with new bearings. When they are not rusty, they come out very easily!

Graham
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I considered it but then thought that I'd have to take at least two of the existing end caps off to remove the old shaft and fit the new one or buy the retaining nut spanner and faff around with taking the whole shaft out... the actual shaft is in good condition under all the grime so it'll be ok cleaned up with a lick of paint.. a closer look at the ad revealed the shaft was a brown colour when zoomed in, that was the deciding factor really.

Got the the reminents of the caps out now using a 17mm socket to drive them through... just need to get this final couple of caps off (may need the services of the angle grinder again) and I'm home and dry I feel once I get my mits on the replacement UJ's.

will have another crack at it tomorrow night
 
rafiki_ said:
Good interesting stuff Gary, and steady progress, well done. Takes me back to my Triumph Herald days when I had all sorts of UJ/rear diff issues. Several good smites with a 2lb Brummie screwdriver were the order of the day. Parts were easier in those days, from the local tat yard, or straight from the Triumph factory:rolleyes:

Following your tribulations with interest in case I suffer the same problems.
Click to expand...

will keep the updates coming... shame there's not a mercruiser scrap yard around these parts
 
hi G..... just a small suggestion....it might be a thought to get the "best" of the knocked out end caps and grind the outside diameter just a couple of "thou" (sorry thats in old PROPER ENGLISH SIZE), and use as a drift for (heaven forebid) future u/j "fun", because sooner or later you,ll need a drift AND a 17mm socket at the same time !! ................ well thats what i would do anyway !!
 
good call Steve:cool:

All sorted now, taaaaa daaaaaaaaaaaaa:D thank heavens for that, ended up being a bitch of a job to get these UJ's out, even with the right tools... but a great learning experience with another tick in the box in understanding how these boat engines / gearboxes work.

Cut the last UJ out as the cap refused to part company with the rest of the Cross Bearing and the damaged cap was impossible to drive back through without causing damage to the main body of the UJ. Angle grinder was taken to one of the UJ trunnions and the remaining cap driven through once removed.

The damaged cap had a seriously deformed and damaged trunnion hiding beneath it:eek:
CIMG0194.jpg


and the other end wasn't fairing much better, the reason it was playing hard to get is the needle bearings had dug their way in to the trunnion.. there's a name for that outcome but can't recall what it is.. my replacement word is it was "fooked":D as can be seen in this shot:
CIMG0193.jpg


Got a couple of days now to clean things up and repaint the bits that need painting.. down the boat Friday night to fit the new Cross Bearings and have the Gimbal Bearing replaced... Fitting the Trim Tab actuator on Saturday along with the sterndrive once I've popped the new bearings in the UJ and may even have the boat back in the water on Sunday.

ever the optimist!!!:D
 
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GrahamHR said:
Aren't those caps hardened ? If so and you use one as a drift and belt it with a big hammer, they could shatter !
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have got an impact wrench Graham... it's removed all the caps without issue the last couple of days apart from the two that came in to contact with the C Press where the ends of the caps cracked and came off... from what I can tell, the cap themselves at the ends are not hardened but the inner race has a band of hardened metal that the needle bearings run on... will take a photo of one of the caps that is now a barrel (no end to it) which should show what I mean

edit: no photo, wifey's chucked 'em..
 
Not sure if the new caps will have nylon retaining rings fitted, if not, be really careful not to let a needle drop and slide up inside the cross. A wipe around the inside of the cap with some grease tends keeps the wayward ones in the right place.

Hope it all goes well with the reassembly. I am not sure if we are down at the weekend but if we are and you are in need of a pair of hands to help relocate the drive on the stern, feel free to give me a shout.

cheers
Paul.
 
P4Paul said:
Not sure if the new caps will have nylon retaining rings fitted, if not, be really careful not to let a needle drop and slide up inside the cross. A wipe around the inside of the cap with some grease tends keeps the wayward ones in the right place.

Hope it all goes well with the reassembly. I am not sure if we are down at the weekend but if we are and you are in need of a pair of hands to help relocate the drive on the stern, feel free to give me a shout.

cheers
Paul.
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thanks Paul appreciated buddy:cool: have read up on the refit last night and the best advice I saw was to fit one at a time for the very reason you mention.. may still push one half in and then pop the other end on before compressing them on fully... thanks again for the offer of help
 
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P4Paul said:
Not sure if the new caps will have nylon retaining rings fitted, if not, be really careful not to let a needle drop and slide up inside the cross. A wipe around the inside of the cap with some grease tends keeps the wayward ones in the right place.

Hope it all goes well with the reassembly. I am not sure if we are down at the weekend but if we are and you are in need of a pair of hands to help relocate the drive on the stern, feel free to give me a shout.

cheers
Paul.
Click to expand...

+1 with the grease.
 
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