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I have an 87 Alpha that I have been running for about 5 seasons now. The drive is in good shape and is trailer kept. I take the drive off every season for regular maintenance. I am developing a new problem- twice this season I have had to replace the gasket between the drive and the bell housing because it has squeezed out from between. This is where the gasket is only about 1/8 of an inch wide, either at the top of the drive or around the shift cable. Why is this problem getting worse with time? Maybe I have to much paint on the gasket surfaces? Are there better gaskets than the mercruiser gaskets? Too much torque on the bolts or too little? I haven’t really changed the way I put it on each year so I am at a loss. Any ideas out there?
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Make sure that both mating surfaces are clean and have no gouges. Torque the nuts to 50 lbs/ft in a criss-cross pattern. The gasket you are using should not be the problem.
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Surface Preparation
Is it best to have a painted or unpainted gasket surface? Some people I have spoke to say that an unpainted surface is best.Comment
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A painted surface is fine as long as it is flat with no gouges.
Tech SupportComment
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Follow up to the gasket problem
Just thought I would report in: I decided to go all out on this last drive install. I sand blasted all the paint off of both the bell housing and the drive. I did not repaint anything. I installed the drive with a new mercruiser gasket and torqued (with a criss cross pattern) to 50 ft lb. The result was improved but not perfect. I still had some sqeezing out around the shift slider plenum. You could just start to see the orange sealer bead start to come out. Fortunatly it stoped there and has not moved. I ran the drive and so far so good- everything looks stable.Comment
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