Plaineman

I have a 2000 Bravo One that uses an alluminum sleeve to retain the driveshaft bellows to the bell housing. I have the proper tool to install it but I cannot seem to get it in. What happens is the bellows slips off the end of the bell housing before that ring will seat properly. I am really loosing it with this one! When I first installed my new drive I got this sleeve in by physically tappering the ends and really beating the thing up. The result was water intrusion into the bellows and ultimately into the boat through the gimbal bearing. I have spoken to a number of people and read a couple of different manuals and nothing seems to be the right way to do this. Should this be so dang hard to do? I hear some people tell me that they intalled that sleeve by hand. If anyone has any ideas please help... Thanks.

Brian

MOBILEMERCMAN

Brian did you reposition it to the second groove?
Jim

bowtie

Brian, this is very easy. As Jim said make sure you have it positioned in the proper groove. Make sure you have the bellows installed properly, the top fwd must be at the top on the gimbal housing. If it is reversed it will not lock in the grooves and the sleeve will not fit. Also spray some soapy solution on the sleeve and the bellows before installing the sleeve. If this doesn't work, take it to a marine mechanic, should take under an hour and it will be done correctly.

Plaineman

Thanks for the help guys... There must be something wrong with the position of the bellows because I spent the better part of the day trying to get that damn sleeve in. I am being very carefull not to damage it but it is really getting frustrating. As for which grove sits on that lip on the inner edge of the bell housing?... there is only one groove on the bellows that I have... the next grove is one of the ripples in the bellows and there is no way that the drive will fit in there if I pull it out that far... besides the sleeve goes in to easy and pops right out. If I seat it on that second groove (first ripple of the bellows) then it all sits to far into the bell housing and does not allow the drive to go in all the way. It looks like I could get the sleeve in there if the end of the bellows would stop slipping off that lip on the bell housing.

Anyway... thanks for taking time to help out guys... If I cannot get this thing back in tomorrow then maybe I will just bring it over to a mechanic... problem is most guys dont want to touch it unless they are doing all the work themselves... at least that is the way it seems to be here in NYC.

Maybe I will get lucky starting fresh tomorrow.

Thanks again...

B

MOBILEMERCMAN

Brian, the second groove . Clean all the lube off it so the sleave doesn't slip around. The drive also pushes on edge of bellows for its seal. It is giving you a hard time because it doesn't agree with what your trying to do. Second groove. Good luck again,
Jim

Plaineman

I am going to try it... I was not able to get the drive to seat yesterday when I tried that. The lip on the end of the bell housing seems to fit so perfectly into that first groove... what is it there for? Since nothing else is working I am going to try it that way... Thanks for all your replies Jim... I really appreciate the help. I will get this done one way or another.

Have a great day...

B

Pwrbt33

Like Jim and everybody said, second groove. It will actually make you think that its not right, but it is. When you put the sleeve in, sometimes you will be able to push it in and you wont even have to hit it with a hammer. Dont use grease, just soapy water to.

Plaineman

I GOT IT!!! Thanks guys... and thank you very much Jim for the time and info. I had the damn thing installed totally wrong... I just couldn't understand how that lip did not go into that first groove... once I had the bellows positioned correctly the sleeve went right in and then the drive also went in easy. The first time I put her together there must have been a 1/2 gap between the end of the drive and the bellows. It all makes total sense now... I put her in the water today and she ran GREAT!!! And... stayed dry.

Be well all... thanks again.

B

JJS2007

The bellows has two grooves, and the outer is for and alpha and the inner is for a bravo. I found that if you use bellows adhesive on that ring it works the best. My opinion. But do it quick because that stuff dries fast, and nasty to clean up. Good luck.