So my season is over due to me being able to get a great deal on indoor storage if I get the boat there in a week. Today I tackled removing the drive. I thought I would post this for all the new guys who (like me) were very nervous removing the drive. All in all, it took me about an hour and the only tools I needed were two 5/8 wrenchs, needlenose pliers, 5/8 socket with swivel extension and ratchet, a 3/8 socket with driver, and a flattip screwdriver. Any ways, on to the job, this applies to a VolVo Penta SX Cobra drive:
Drive before I started. Lower your trailer tongue all the way down and lower the drive all the way down too.
Use a wrench to remove the plastic bolt cap.
Then use a wrench to remove nut (on both sides) that holds tilt pistons on.
You may have to use a wrench on each nut at the same time to remove both, the shaft tends to spin if you just do one at a time.
The manual says to remove the shaft from the drive, but I found it just as easy to loosen the rear nuts on the rear of the tilt pistons and pull the entire piston away from the drive.
Piston off of shaft. I plan on replacing the plastic/rubber washer grommets on the shaft that butt up against the drive housing, one of them was cracked and they both are a bit dry rotted.
Support the pistons up and out of the way (I used a bungee cord), then use the 3/8 socket to remove the 3 bolts that hold the rear cover one. This cover is plastic and does not have a gasket since the drive is water tight underneath it.
Drive with cover off. Next, remove the cotter pin (at tip of screwdriver in pic) from the shifter linkage pin and unscrew the shifter linkage pin from the shifter rod, that way it doesn't get caught on anything when you pull the drive off.
Next remove the 6 nuts (3 on each side) with a 5/8 socket with swivel. Make sure the socket is seated on the nut nice and tight, a stripped nut in this area would be a huge PIA to remove.
Ok, here we go! If you have a transmission jack or a stand/rig to support the drive, now is the time to get it in place under the drive. Unfortunately, I have neither so I removed mine by hand. Also unfortunately, since I removed mine by hand, I couldn't take a pic of this process
Gently rock the drive up and down while pulling rearward. Hopefully it will start sliding right off (mine did). Once you see the driveshaft, be ready cause it will basically fall right off if there is nothing hanging it up. If your doing it by hand, watch that driveshaft, because it will bust your knuckles when it slides all the way out and falls down. Once the drive is off and out of the way, you should be looking at 2 huge openings (and 1 small one) in the rear of your previously seaworthy boat.
The opening on top is your driveshaft bellows, the one below is the exhaust bellows, the smaller one to the side is the water intake that goes to the seawater pump.
The driveshaft bellows is where you want to inspect the closest. Check the actual bellows for cracks, tears, or holes, and if there is water and/or drive oil present. If there is water or oil it is probably due to a bad input seal. As you can see from the pic, I have oil in mine (ugh). Check the gimble bearing (see arrow) for free movement with no "gritty" feeling when it spins.
This is the oil that was in my driveshaft bellows. You can make out a bit of milkyness to it.
After you inspect the bellows, check the U-Joints and driveshaft on the back of the drive. Check the U-Joints for clanks, slop, or play. I discover a bit of rust on my U-Joints (arrow in pic).
I made a stand for my drive to store inside my garage over the winter. KInda hillbilly, but it works for me
So, my plans for the winter now include ordering bellows, gimble bearing and a input seal kit. Hope this helps all the new guys!
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