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Well....

My new boat has issues already and it hasn't hit the water yet. I was inspecting the outdrive (which I really looked at before buying) and noticed a small tear in the shift bellows (the small one right?). The exhaust and driveshaft bellows are perfect. I think that someone was trying to fix the trim guage (sending unit) and the screwdriver went through the bellows. Anyway, I know that this isn't a place you water, so how involved it is to replace them? I have read everywhere from "nightmare" to "simple but tedious". I realize that it is prolly somewhere in between. Oh well, I have all winter to save, and in Michigan, the winters are so long, I might be able to buy a new boat by then!

Let me know,

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Don't forget the plug....
.......Don't ever forget the plug......

Its not easy, especially if you dont have the proper tools. It takes an experienced tech around 3 hours start to finish if there are no issues.

My dealer charges 1 hour labor to pull/install drive, so you know it doesn't take a good mechanic that long!

I can do it myself in just under an hour with time for a beer!



There is the 6 nuts that hold drive on, cotter pin on shfit linkage, maybe something else I am not remembering, but fairly simple. Most time consuming part is getting or fabricating a drive stand, you can and I have done without a stand, just nicer to have one.

I have not looked at the lastest drives, mine is a 2000 era, but I only have driveshaft bellow and exhaust, the shift cable on mine doesn't go through any bellows.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
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Here is the $64,000 question. If the shift bellows only have a small hole in them, how important is it for me to replace? Can I run the boat? I dont want to trash the outdrive, but the skeeg is completely busted off, so I am getting a used OD to replace that, so they will get replaced when that goes on.

To me, bellows are stupid and weak points in the boat. Just my .02

Regards,

_________________
Don't forget the plug....
.......Don't ever forget the plug......

Thats because Volvo Pentas do not use a bellows for the shift cable. A hole in your merc shift cable bellows can sink your boat, and sometimes rather quickly too. You can change just the shift cable bellows much faster than the others, you still have to pull the drive and the shift cable to do so. I would also recommend that if the shift cable has been wet that you change that also. To "properly" set up the shift requires some special tools that most individuals do not have.