Volvo Penta aqad41a with 290dp leg gimbal bearing replacement

N

Neilthesparky

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Sep 2015
Messages
79
Visit site
Good evening all,
Does anyone have experience of replacing the main drive shaft bearings on a aqad41a with a 290dp leg?
Does the motor need to be removed or at least pulled back to fully remove the bell housing? Or can the bearing / bearings be removed once the leg has been taken off?
Many thanks
 
Just to confirm, you mean the shaft that connects the flywheel on the engine to the drive universal joint? and the two bearings inside? In my book a gimball bearing is the bearing located inside the shield on mercruiser and sx Volvo drives and dp doesn't have one. (my terminology is a bit off I learned the trade and live outside of the uk now) if so its easy but you will need a bearing press ideally. there will be two black grease seals on either side and should be completely full of grease when its installed. Im not sure if I have done this exact job on tamd or aq engines but have done with KAD units but they are basically the same. you will need to also change these. In terms of doing it in the boat you will need a lot of room to do the job comfortably. just lift the engine forward and support it just forward on the bell housing flange with wood. but its pretty easy once its out just press the bearings out towards the engine side. I usually tighten the bolts to 65nm with threadlock or two ugga duggas with the impact gun depending on how im feeling. But just check free play in the shaft if it feels ok don't play with it in my opinion.
 
You need to remove the outdrive and with a bearing puller you can remove the bearing. You need to get the alignment right and that's the main difficulty.
 
Thanks for the replies, it is the main drive shaft bearings for the splined shaft that drives the outdrive, the break down for the parts on the Volvo Penta parts web site looks like both bearings come out of the bell housing from the outside and are held in place with circlips.
I did the ones on my v8 Volvo penta but one was removed from the outside of the boat and one from the inside of the boat
 
On my 280T and from memory with the early ? 290s the inner bearing was only removeable from inside the transom assembly and the external bearing only removeable from outside.
Access was needed to both sides of transom to remove jackshaft bearings and their respective oil/water seals..
We jury rigged up a tripod of scaffolding to lift and move engine backwards to gain enough space to drive out and replace outer/inner bearings both destroyed by water ingress.
With little care you can work out that you do not need to let absolutely everything go to shift engine back enough to gain access.Think we definately left fuel line connected, saves purging system afterwards.
Do have some pix and will attempt to post em !.
The pix are actually of a 41 with 290 leg.
For a couple of cheapskate beginners it took two days to do job, first day lift out and strip, second to reassemble and launch.
All bearings/seals are available on the open market and some internet companies do kits.
No need to purchase VP spares unless you want too.
Do not be dismayed if jackshaft is scored, there are various remedies and or bodges to get that shaft back into service.
My inner bearing was turning on the jackshaft a little peening and Locktite saved me having to find and fork out for new item.
That bit of info came from a much derided outdrive outfit down in Dover. :)

H,mm my photos of the job appear to be on a file unsupported by Photobucket,will get them converted and have another go .
 
Last edited:
CLB said:
Watching this thread with interest. Think I have the same job to do.
Click to expand...

Starts with a hardly noticeable constant low level grumble.
If you can get at the transom assembly without giving yourself a hernia place a long screwdriver or steel rod against the aluminium casting and put your ear against the handle, it will usually confirm your worst suspicions immediately.
Another thing to watch for, if you do need to replace jackshaft, over time,the number of splines varied, need to replace like for like.
Just a case of summing up the courage and do it ASAP before something lets go big time.
One bearing had totally collapsed, the outer race of the outer bearing had to be gently pursuaded out of the housing with a couple of socket set extention bars from the inside.
The inner race simply fell off the shaft.
When cleaning out casting did check that all the old ball bearings were present and corrct.
Sure the experts will be along soon to give the professional proper way of doing it.
Will get some internal shots of engines and dismantled components as soon as can work out how to convert for "Bucket"
This is the 280T drive on my Princess 33 after removing the leg.Just visible is the flywheel. so you can see engine was only moved back a few inches.
 
Last edited:
petrol engines and d3 units have a different drive and shield assembly you can pull the shield bearing with only the drive removed, I have to get round to doing one this week as some point
 
Cheers for the replies. I was looking at the exploded view on the marine parts Europe site and it looks like all the seals, bearings and snap rings are removed from the rear of the boat but when I did my aq271 drive shaft bearings, I did have to remove the bell housing
image.jpg
 
still attempting to get my photos converted ..............

just managed to achieve this using a mixture of threats and bribery with regard to some young people loitering around my home...:)
 
Last edited:
Neilthesparky said:
Cheers oldgit
Click to expand...

Some of these photos were taken by another forumite back in the mists of time, .......unfortunately his name escapes me.
As you can see those bearings are only coming out in one direction.
The bearings are bog standard generic item and good quality units should be simple to get from your local bearing outfit.
I got some really doubtful shonky cheapo units and did a side for under £40.00.
The outdrives were still going several years later when some new victim bought my boat.
Oooo and next time buy shafts and have nothing to do with these evil pieces of "XYZ" agin :):):)








 
Last edited:
Cheers for the pictures, my fears where right then!! It’s going to be the same as my aq271c was, move motor and then remove bell housing.
Was really hoping it was going to be different with the aqad41
 
If you look carefully you can see the wear marks left by the oil seals on shaft , if not to bad you can merely polish up with very fine emery. You could install seal slightly less deep in housing to enable decent contact with clean metal if shaft really worn.Replacement jackshafts do appear on US ebay ever now and then.
Good time to remove and clean out any greasing nipples and check hydraulics for wear and leaks.
Although for reasons known only to God and Volvo, no provision was made to be able grease either bearing on my transom assemblies.
Good Luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top