Gimble Bearing Replacement - the mother of all DIY's
 

Just wanted to give a word to the wise for my fellow DIY'ers out there... think long and hard about this one before tackling it yourself.

I grew up working alongside my dad overhauling heavy construction equipment, so I like to think I have a pretty good mechanical background. And with his help, a boatload of tools (no pun intended) that he has because of his profession, and a nice air conditioned shop of his to work in... I thought... between to two of us it would be a piece of cake. Well, maybe not that easy... but something we could surely accomplish.

Studied and researched and read all about the trials and tribulations that others have gone through to complete this mother of all DIY's and thought.... "if anyone can do this, we can."

16 hrs later... almost done. Granted... we took our time. Only want to do this once, do it right the first time.

It's the little stuff that gets you.
Trim switch wiring wedged between the two transom plates. A 5 minute task of removing the wires takes hour and a half. (Had a bad switch, so these needed replacement)
Feeding the shift cable back in. Wrapping your arm around the back of the engine, feeling around to find where the cable is so you can guide it... blindly, because it's almost impossible without a hall of mirrors to see back there.

I sincerely have a new appreciation for what the professionals charge to accomplish this task. And after a weekend like this, would most likely pay for someone to do it for me next time. There's 20 pounds of equipment packed into a 5 pound bag back there... patience is a virtue.

A few notes to add to some of the other stuff I've read online:
-Plan on replacing the water hose and lube hose. One needs to be cut off in order to remove, and the other is old and stiff, a new one will make reinstallation much easier.
-Replace the shift shaft seals. As long as your in there, might as well replace 'em. It's just another potential point of water entry.
-The hose clamps provided in some of those "kits" are not quality hose clamps. Ended up re-using most of the originals.
-Probably could have made one of those bellows expander tools. But glad I spent the $30 on one already made to do the job. A 5 minutes task of getting the bellows on with the tool could have been 45 minutes if I take into account the time to make my own tool. Sometimes a few extra dollars spent to save a little time is worth it to me. And old pops was anxious to see how that fancy gadget worked.

Alright, time to get back at it.
We've got a clearance or alignment issue keeping us from getting the sterndrive back in that last inch before we can bolt her down and go wet the keel.