What transom repair kit (bellows and gimbal bearing kit) should I get?

[Scott in nh]

Pre-Alpha

Mercury is About $230, but is said to still have made in China parts  - is it worth it?

Many others are under $100 - which one isn't junk?

[thedeuceman]

I ordered a sierra one and a fumble bearing from Amazon and put that in a couple years ago. I don’t recall having any specific problems with it I know that some people just don’t like Sierra Parts.
I couldn’t find a record so I may have ordered it on eBay, but I recall buying a GLM brand one as well and that going in just fine. I believe any of those kind of parts you buy are going to be made overseas, my theory is if you buy a namebrand at least you have a chance of there being some quality control somewhere along the line.



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[Scott in nh]

Thanks,

The outdrive, like the rest of the drivetrain, appears to have been maintained and it likely got new bellows and a new gimbal bearing when the engine was changed.

With that in mind, I may not replace the bearing - it is smooth as butter and just needs to be regreased - thoughts?

[thedeuceman]

If the bearing is smooth I wouldn’t hesitate to leave it in there, but I would change the Bellows. both the 1900 and the balharbor had really nice looking bellows when I put them together, I ended up having to change both of them after a year, and of course the bearing as well seeing as we washed all the grease out of them.


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[Glastronjohn18]

Scott. The newer bearings from Mercruiser are greasless. There is no grease hole in the bearing. Could you have a newer bearing or is it the older greaseable style?

[Plugcheck]

The last gimbal bearing I replaced has no provision for grease, just a guess, but maybe by that design water can't get in as well?  I've used the Sierra bellows before with no issue, but I pull my drives every year to check.

[Scott in nh]

Definitely not a sealed bearing.

No grease nipple either though - would the hole for it have to line up with the slot?

How do I regrease it?

Should I just get the pivot tool to make changing the bellows easier?

If I have it that apart, should I just get a sealed gimbal bearing and replace it?

[Plugcheck]

The style of bearing that accepts grease must have the hole lined up in the bore.   I used to just put a dot with a perm marker to make sure the alignment is correct.   Changing the bearing might ease your worries for little cost, but insure your alignment is spot on so the drive slides in and doesn't cause undue wear on the bearing or coupler.