Greasing gimbal bearing and hinge pins questions

[friendly_jacek]

This is regarding 3.0L Mercruiser engine and alpha I/O.

Last evening I attempted to grease gimbal bearing and hinge pins. I used the correct greases (I have 4 grease guns loaded with 4 different greases, what a pain!). I did several pumps in each zerk. I did not see old grease return from gimbal bearing. Where is the return located?

On the other hand, I saw old hinge pin grease backing out through seals. Is that normal? Is it not harmful for the seals?

According to the below picture, there should be also a swivel pin zerk. I forgot about it. I need to go back and find one.

 

[Donald]

The gimbal bearing is inside and sealed from the outside water. Two pumps should do it. You will never see that grease. You do realize there are also u-joints that should be greased every other year and a spline shaft.

The prop should come off so you can grease the prop shaft.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: Donald
The gimbal bearing is inside and sealed from the outside water. Two pumps should do it. You will never see that grease. You do realize there are also u-joints that should be greased every other year and a spline shaft.

The prop should come off so you can grease the prop shaft.


Yes, I'll do the prop and coupler later. I have the special coupler grease.

Do you have any feedback on the hinge grease (2-4-teflone) escaping from the seals? Did I bust the seals?

My Alpha 1 Gen 2 came with permalube U-joints.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: Donald
The gimbal bearing is inside and sealed from the outside water. Two pumps should do it. You will never see that grease. You do realize there are also u-joints that should be greased every other year and a spline shaft.

The prop should come off so you can grease the prop shaft.


Yes, I'll do the prop and coupler later. I have the special coupler grease.

Do you have any feedback on the hinge grease (2-4-teflone) escaping from the seals? Did I bust the seals?

My Alpha 1 Gen 2 came with permalube U-joints.


I am not sure there are any seals for the hinge pins. So I doubt you broke anything.

Permalube means its lubricated for life of u-joint. So when the u-joint fails it no longer needs to be lubed.

 

[Donald]

Even if your u-joints are permalube, it would still be a good idea to pull the outdrive every other year and grease the spline and make sure everything looks OK, no water or rust.

 

[1 FMF]

depending on how old is out drive is will determine if there are zerks on the ujoints of the upper drive shaft. the late model gen2 drives are sealed ujoints.
if you've never pulled the drive apart and you value it at all, you want to pull it like was said. what can happen is the drive shaft can rust and seize to the gimbal bearing and you won't be able to pull the outdrive, resulting in you busting the gimbal housing to get it off which leads to an expensive repair.
and if you over grease the gimbal bearing via zerk, you end up pushing grease into the bellows and inside the transom making a mess so you don't want to just pump 2-3 times every year on the gimbal bearing you might just be wasting grease and making a mess.
if/when you pull the drive, inspect the drive shaft and yoke for rust, if there is then your leaking water into there and probably need a new bellows. it's also a good idea to split the drive in half just so you know it will so you can eventually do the water pump, otherwise the thing can corrode together and become a real pain.

what four greases do you have?

lithium complex for everything !

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: 1 FMF

what four greases do you have?

lithium complex for everything !

I'm doing everything by the book and use the following greases:
2-4-C with teflon
Coupler/spline grease
Gimbal bearing/U joint grease
Hi-temp trailer bearing grease
I also have all purpose marine grease I use on prop shaft
I only use lithium on engine/carb/steering linkage.

This is a total of 6 greases, but I have 4 grease guns, as only 4 require pumping through zerks. The grease will last me forever and I only grease once a year.

I may want to take the outdrive off in the next year or two and replace the impeller/pump, but last time I did that everything looked very good (including the old impeller/pump that I replaced anyhow) and I decided it doesn't have to done often with my low use of the boat (it's a major job too).