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View Full Version : How much should a gimbal bearing cost to replace?



Donziweasel
03-03-2008, 06:11 PM
Mines cracked, just wondering.

DonziJon
03-03-2008, 06:25 PM
Not trying to be funny..but how is a gimbal bearing "cracked'? Please describe.. The last time I looked, a gimbal bearing cost about $58. I just looked it up in the West Marine catalog.

Oh wait...if you have a "Tech" replace it ...the bearing will cost at least twice that ...PLUS labor. There IS a "special tool" required to align it..which I'm sure everybody does NOT have in the toolbox. I guess that's where the EXTRA cost comes in.

In deference to the "Techs"....sometimes it's Not in the "DOIN".....It's in the "KNOWIN".

EDIT: Woops: that was a 2005 Catalog.

MOP
03-03-2008, 08:47 PM
Odd I have never seen a cracked gimble bearing, are you sure?

LKSD
03-03-2008, 09:10 PM
Odd I have never seen a cracked gimble bearing, are you sure?

Good point.. :)

I have seen some come apart, but I dont remember them being cracked. John, Are you sure it is not a cracked gimble ring or housing? Jamie :)

mjw930
03-04-2008, 08:43 AM
I just had mine replaced as part of more serious outdrive work and we used the ZR bearing which has a Merc retail of $98. My drive guy says the ZR bearing is worth the extra few bucks.

While you are in there you also should do the bellows and you'll need a drive seal kit. You're probably in the $250 range for parts.

The labor for just the bearing replacement, assuming you don't do the bellows (which you should) and anything else should be around 2 hours, a little more if you have the bellows replaced. Guys around here get ~ $90/hr.

Of course this assumes a Bravo outdrive, I have no idea what the Alpha would entail.

LKSD
03-04-2008, 09:16 AM
There would be no real pertinent reason to do boots, etc if just the gimble is bad, that would stand true on alphas & bravos.. ;)

The bellows dont have to be changed if the gimble bearing is bad. They dont even have to be touched to do the bearing replacment..

Possibly you have the process recomendation confused?

Usually if you have bad boots then you would also do a gimble bearing, other boots, cable etc while you are in there.. However to just do a bearing, the drive must come off & then you would remove the bearing with either a slide puller or a special reverse press merc tool to pull the bearing out.. ;)


As far as the XR bearing, the new bearing kit allows for the larger Ujoints on the xr to be used.. So if you have a std Bravo non XR, you could still use the new style bearing. That way if you ever upgraded into an Xr you wouldnt need to replace the bearing again.. This however is only needed on the non newer B1 gimble housings, as they already will accept any bravo including the xr.. The earlier housings however would not. That is probably the reason your guy recomended the xr bearing kit.. ;) Jamie / Lakeside

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mjw930
03-04-2008, 10:03 AM
Jamie,

I suppose it comes down to what is considered required and what your level of comfort is regarding wear parts that can cause catastrophic failure.

The single leading cause of bearing failure is water intrusion through a deteriorated belows. In those cases it's a no brainer.

OTOH, if your bearing takes a crap on it's own and the bellows appears to be in good shape then there's no functional reason to replace it. However, in most cases the bearing and bellows were probably installed at the same time and are roughly the same age. To me it makes no sense to spend the time and money to replace the bearing and not spend the couple extra dollars to replace the bellows at the same time. I've seen more than once where a 5 or 10 year old bearing was replaced and in less than a year the boat was back in for a new bearing after that 5 - 10 year old bellows finally sprung a leak and took the new bearing with it. Now, if the bellows was replaced a few years ago and the bearing was not then doing just the bearing is more reasonable. It really comes down to a boat by boat decision AND your own personal preference. My personal preference is to replace all wear parts whenever I need to get into the drive housing. In the long run I think it saves me money keeps my down time to a minimum.

LKSD
03-04-2008, 10:43 AM
Jamie,

I suppose it comes down to what is considered required and what your level of comfort is regarding wear parts that can cause catastrophic failure.

The single leading cause of bearing failure is water intrusion through a deteriorated belows. In those cases it's a no brainer.

OTOH, if your bearing takes a crap on it's own and the bellows appears to be in good shape then there's no functional reason to replace it. However, in most cases the bearing and bellows were probably installed at the same time and are roughly the same age. To me it makes no sense to spend the time and money to replace the bearing and not spend the couple extra dollars to replace the bellows at the same time. I've seen more than once where a 5 or 10 year old bearing was replaced and in less than a year the boat was back in for a new bearing after that 5 - 10 year old bellows finally sprung a leak and took the new bearing with it. Now, if the bellows was replaced a few years ago and the bearing was not then doing just the bearing is more reasonable. It really comes down to a boat by boat decision AND your own personal preference. My personal preference is to replace all wear parts whenever I need to get into the drive housing. In the long run I think it saves me money keeps my down time to a minimum.

Im not agruing that at all. I was just saying that you dont need to do the boots if they are in fine shape when doing the bearing. It is just a lot more labor to do that because you have to remove the bell housing for the drive to replace it.

By all means if the boots have wear or dry rot then replace ALL boots along with water hose, shift cable & trim senders. The senders wire & disks usually are shot or not far off at that point as well. Also they will usually not work right after removing old ones at that point. Thats why I do them when in there, beyond to obvious fact of already being in that far and close to then to replace when all of the other stuff is already out.. :) Jamie

mjw930
03-04-2008, 10:59 AM
Jamie,

I'm certainly not trying to argue, sorry if it seemed that way.

I guess my experience is tainted because I've never owned an I/O that used the exhaust bellows and you can do the U-Drive bellows without removing the bell housing. The exhaust bellows, from what I've heard, is a real pain to replace unless you remove the bell housing so I can see your points.

I've just always had the bellows go and take out the bearing so again, my experience is tainted.

Sorry. :D

LKSD
03-04-2008, 11:28 AM
Jamie,

I'm certainly not trying to argue, sorry if it seemed that way.

I guess my experience is tainted because I've never owned an I/O that used the exhaust bellows and you can do the U-Drive bellows without removing the bell housing. The exhaust bellows, from what I've heard, is a real pain to replace unless you remove the bell housing so I can see your points.

I've just always had the bellows go and take out the bearing so again, my experience is tainted.

Sorry. :D

No, dont worry about it. I didnt think you were arguing with me.. I thought that you may have misunderstood me. I was just elaborating on rhyme & reason in regards to the topic.. :) Jamie

Donziweasel
03-04-2008, 05:56 PM
Cracked gimbal ring housing, sorry. How much? Getting a pretty damn big qoute.

gcarter
03-04-2008, 06:01 PM
John, set up a search on eBay or pay the big bucks.
Do you have a Gen II Alpha?????

gcarter
03-04-2008, 06:06 PM
as far as the bellows goes, I have removed the spring and turned them inside out and inspected them closely after cleaning them. No need to buy something you don't need if they're good.
The last time I did this the bellows did fail about 1 1/2 years later, of course I have no idea how old it was to begin with.

Donziweasel
03-04-2008, 06:07 PM
97 Gen II. I am getting a qoute of over 800.00. I have to pull the engine this spring anyway to fix a timing cover leak and not sure if I should try it on my own George. How hard and am I over my head?

gcarter
03-04-2008, 06:12 PM
If you have a manual and some basic tools, pullers, drivers, a good vice, etc, it's time consuming but rewarding.
I have bought a couple of Alpha gimbal housings that were pretty badly corroded in the flat central area (funny how the studs tend to leak and drip on that area) and had them welded up in the thin corroded area. I paid about $50.00 for them. Sometimes you can buy an entire gimbal assembly for $200.00. It's not a bad thing to have.

Donziweasel
03-04-2008, 06:21 PM
Got the tools as you know, but not the know how. I do have a alignment tool from last years engine top end build. Can get a manual. Might try it and save some coin, plus, i'd like to learn how to do it. Might like a change from the Bronco and spring is a coming.

BUIZILLA
03-04-2008, 06:43 PM
after what your doing to the Bronc... do you REALLY think you can't do it?? :propeller: :cool:

Donziweasel
03-05-2008, 06:48 AM
Nah, I can do it. Just never done much on boats.

gcarter
03-05-2008, 06:56 AM
John, I'd never done one the first time I did it.
Just me and the manual. It was pretty rough so I didn't think I had much to lose.

mjw930
03-05-2008, 09:02 AM
When you say gimbal ring housing do you mean the part that's bolted to the transom?

Just so we are clear on what is actually broken can you identify which part in the following list is cracked?

Gimbal ring housing (aka, Transom Plate) holds the Gimbal Ring which holds the Bell Housing which holds the Outdrive.

p.s. I don't mean to insult anyone by implying that you don't know what's what. I've gone round and round I don't know how many times with people talking about one part and having them picture another simply because I learned it by a different name.