Alpha one shift cable bellows?

SCORPIO

SCORPIO

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2008
2,742
Delaware
Boat Info
1989 300 DA
Engines
Twin 5.7 Merc Alpha I
I'm doing bellows, hoses, shift cable and trim limit/position senders prior to spring launch. I'm having a problem with the shift cable bellows. I have installed that thing three times now and every time within a day or two, the bellows walks off the gimbal housing. I have cleaned it very well each time. I am using Merc bellows adhesive and not putting too much on, thin coat on both the bellows end and the metal mounting surface on the gimbal housing. I note the Merc manual says to only apply the adhesive to the rubber bellow end and not the other side, then it says to follow the directions on the adhesive tube. The adhesive tube says to put it on both surfaces. ???? I'm at my wits end, the bell housing is now attached and the cable is installed so working in there is getting to be a royal PITA! I can manage to work in there but I want this damned thing done and I don't know what I'm doing wrong that's causing the bellow to walk off like it is. I let the stuff tack for about 10 min then assemble. I snug the clamp but don't draw it down all the way at first so as not to force it off, did that once too. I'm almost ready to install it sans adhesive but want to have more than a $1.19 hose clamp standing between me and the Atlantic. I'm thinking of trying adhesive on only the rubber side and then assembling.

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

BTW I have done this job before and never had this issue before.
 
No, not deformed. I have it cleaned with acetone and lightly roughed up with sand paper. How do you apply the adhesive?
 
It was dried when removed. It was an unopened tube I had in my heated basement since last spring. Could it be too old? It looks fine and tacks up very quickly.
 
I'm assuming it comes off when you tilt up the bell housing. Surly it is not coming off when the bell housing is down. The shift cable bellow is very thin and flexible unlike the exhaust and drive shaft bellows. Every time I replace mine I push the bellow down the shift cable so it is not extended much and would have maximum flexibility. It fits very tightly around the shift cable and you have to push it rather hard to compress it.
This would allow it to extend more as the bell housing is tilted up. I always allow overnight drying before tilting up so the adhesive has maximum time to set up.
 
It comes off even without the drive on or being tilted. It take a few hours to occur but it is slowly walking off. Thus is why I'm worried. I ordered some new adhesive to rule that out. Should arrive tomorrow and I'll try again.
 
Be sure to compress or make it shorter on the cable before you add the clip to the aft end. Let us know if you figure it out. Weird problem. I just helped my son replace bellows on his Bravo 2 drive and the exhaust bellow slipped off. This thing is short and stiff and after tilting up the drive it pulled off. We replaced it with the smooth one that does not seal unless the drive is tilted down. I/O engines are a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. It's no wonder the world in going outboard!! With V8's and horsepower up to 400 there is no reason to put yourself through this crap. Good luck on this problem.
 
Is the new bellows OEM or cheap aftermarket? Maybe the aftermarket is slightly shorter or stiffer rubber and that's why its pulling off. Ive heard the Sierra bellows are not as good but I can't say why since I've never used one.
 
Snapon24 said:
Is the new bellows OEM or cheap aftermarket? Maybe the aftermarket is slightly shorter or stiffer rubber and that's why its pulling off. Ive heard the Sierra bellows are not as good but I can't say why since I've never used one.
Click to expand...
Good point!!! Sometimes there are differences in cheap China look a likes and the real deal. All the shift cable bellows I have used were very pliable and soft. They stretched easily.
 
These are Sierra, very pliable. I have not put it into tension during the attempted installs, only left it loose on the cable so it never stretched. I allowed it to be undisturbed over night, still crawled off.
 
UPDATE: I tested the bellows adhesive I have on some pieces of rubber roofing. Applying a thin coat to both pieces and alowing to cure for 10 minutes before joining produced a tenacious bond I couldn't pull apart. So I repeated the procedure on the shift bellows and the metal part on the boat. I allowed it to cure for 30 minutes prior to joining and clamping. It seems to be holding fine now. I think the problem I was having may have been from joining the two parts before the solvents had finished out gassing from the adhesive. That may have caused a lubricating effect allowing the rubber to be squeezed off by the clamp.
 
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