jet boat drive shaft bearring

[sandrail]

Hope everyone is having a great summer. I have a 1984 jet boat with a 350 olds And need to replace the drive shaft bearing located in the small box coming out of the engine before the jet drive . Could somebody please tell me how to replace this bearing? Do i have to remove the entire jet drive to do this or just undo four bolts on the bearing box? Thanks for any help you all have a nice day.

[stevel]

With all the different jets out there, I'm having a hard time picturing what you are describing. What kind of jet does your boat have?

[sandrail]

Hi Stevel Thanks for your reply Not sure what kind of jet I have not a Berekley I am sure, it's a 1984 Challanger and right behind the flyweel the shaft coming out of engine before connecting to the jet has a 3 by 3 box housing a bearing. figure the previous owner never greased this and after about 15 minutes in water the bearing made a bad noise, we added grease "TOOK TWO SMALL TUBES and found that the box was full of water which by adding the grease pushed the water out after adding grease the sound stopped and only happens once in a great while, Have let it dry out for a month now and going to add all new grease. Do you think that short exposure to water could have ruined the bearing? Yhanks for your help. Richard

[stevel]

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with that setup. If I'm understanding correctly, you have a shaft going into and out of that box (engine|shaft|box o' bearing|shaft|jet drive). I'm guessing that there are some u-joints trown in there somewhere for good measure too. Is that what's inside the mystery box?

[sandrail]

I Don'tthink so no room for u joints just as you said shaft from engine going to jet with this box between with a bearing and grease fitting. very hard to describe. What you probally do know having the knowledge you do, is do you think having that bearing,(I assume it is stlainess steel) in the water for aprox 15 minutes with no grease would ruin the bearing? That is my greatest concern, so could I just be worrying for no real reason? Thanks for all your help. Richard

[stevel]

A brief exposure to water, followed by being filled with grease would probably do no harm. Having run it without lubrication until it makes noise may have done a lot of damage. Where did the water come from?