Exhaust bellows 4.3 Mercruiser

mike523 · 04-12-2016, 07:56 PM

So a few weeks ago I did the dreaded exhaust bellows install without removing the outdrive and I didn't have any of the special expansion tools - needless to say it was a nightmare.

Well, the dang thing popped off the transom side and I REEEALLY don't want to go through all that again.

I've been reading some and it seems like plenty of people are running with the exhaust tube instead of the full exhaust bellows - heck, a number of folks are running with nothing at all. While running with no exhaust bellows/tube whatsoever makes me a little uncomfortable, the idea of switching to a tube instead of the full bellows is enticing as the installation would be super quick.

I could even cut off a portion of the nearly new bellows I've got so that its the same size as the tube solution and just do it that way. Is this a bad idea?

**pkeane11** · 04-12-2016, 10:18 PM

After removing the drive 4 times and buying 2 bellows last year to try and get the exhaust bellows to stay attached, I switched to the exhaust tube which installed in 10 minutes and had no problems all season.