With approximately 17 million recreational boats found in the United States, boating is an activity that is enjoyable to millions of people scattered across the country. However, a fun day of boating can end abruptly if your vessel springs a leak, especially if it’s through the transom. If this were to happen to you, wouldn’t it be nice if you could avoid the high costs associated with repair shops by doing it yourself?
In this article, I am going to give you the steps necessary to replace both the shift cable bellows and the U-joint bellows, which are the two most common causes of leaks in your boat’s transom assembly. I will also give you a few tips and suggestions on how to prevent future transom assembly leaks.
Replacing the Shift Cable Drive:
Replacing the shift cable bellow requires you to remove the drive and replace the shift cable. If this is not replaced immediately, additional leaks will ruin the gimbal and sterndrive unit. Replacing the drive is a relatively easy process. First, put the boat in the right gear, depending on where the shift is located. If it’s on the right, put it in reverse. Otherwise, it is forward. The next step requires you to remove the prop. Be careful, though. The drive is quite large and will require two people to move it.
Next, you need to release the trim cylinder. However, you should be especially careful not to let the skeg unit hit the ground when the drive drops. After this, remove the bolts securing the outdrive and take off the housing around the exhaust. For easier access, turn the unit to the port side. Then, you can use a hinge pin tool to access the shift cable and get to its bellows, after you free the grounding screw and housing.
Your next step will be to tie off the trim cylinders to a cleat. This ensures that they don’t bang together, which can severely damage or break the hydraulic lines inside them. Finally, loosen the bolts securing the drive to the transom. Before attempting to install a new shift cable bellow, you will need to make sure that you have the right parts, as installing the wrong size parts can cause severe damage.
Do you know what the different keels on a sailboat do? Learn more here.
Replacing the Shift Cable Bellows:
The shift cable bellows have two clamps holding it in place. All you have to do is remove those clamps to replace the bellows. Even if they appear to be in good shape, they should also be changed while you are changing the drive. I would certainly not want things to go bad while I was out on the water when I could have invested just a little more time changing them while I was already replacing the drive.
Replacing the U-joint Bellows:
When you are replacing the U-joint bellows, it is important to remember that you should check and replace the gasket and O-rings too. It is also vital that you remember that you need to use the lubricant recommended in your boat’s manual. Check the housing for rust or debris. You may also have to replace the gimble bearing. This kit will cost you a few hundred dollars, but doing the job now will save you potentially thousands in repair bills later.
How To Prevent Future Leaks:
Of course, the best way to fix transom assembly leeks is to do preventive maintenance that will eliminate these leaks in the future. One of the best recommendations I can give you to prevent future leaks in your transom assembly is to replace the rubber in the assembly at least once every five years. While this may initially seem like tedious work, I can assure you that I would much rather change the rubber seals in the transom assembly once every five years than to have a leak while I was out on the water and then have to pay for costly repairs later.
If you do happen to spring a leak through your transom assembly, I would strongly recommend taking care of that leak immediately, as opposed to waiting until it gets worse. Not only will this end up in a higher repair bill further down the line, but it could also put you in a potentially dangerous situation while you are out on the water. One of my grandmother’s favorite sayings used to be, “A stitch in time saves nine.” She was right about that on several occasions in my life. Who would have ever thought that it would apply to boating?
Conclusion:
As you can see, replacing the Shift Cable Bellows is not a complicated job, although it will take two people to do it properly. However, replacing the shift cable bellows is the most effective way to stop your boat from leaking through the transom. This job will take a couple of hours t complete, with the total cost of parts being right around $100. Yuku should also replace your shift cable bellows while you are replacing the drive. It won’t take that much longer, and you will be glad you did.
● While you are replacing your shift cable drive, you should go ahead and replace the shift cable bellows and the U-joint bellows while you’re at it. It is also important to remember that the rubber in your transom assembly should be changed every five years to prevent your boat from leaking. To prevent leaks, replace the rubber in your transom assembly every five years, and take care of any leaks you have immediately.
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult a legal expert or medical professional to address your specific needs.