I pulled the outdrive off my OMC Cobra to repaint it but damn if I can
get it back on. I can't get the driveshaft to reseat in the gimbal.
After much effort I got it to within an inch. Any tips from those that
have been here before?

I've got a 93 King Cobra, it has 2 o-rings on the shaft about that far out
and they are hard to get inside the gimble bearing, what I did out of
frustration and not wanting to get a real boat mechanic is stick a screw
driver in-between the u-joint and make sure it doesn't turn and is locked in
the spline of the flywheel and hook the trim cylinders up and put the trim
down some ( have somebody up top doing that while u watch it pull in
hopefully, make sure the shift cable is going in correctly and the pump hose
bib is inserting, and don't bind anything) and pull it in, get it close and
do the rest with the nuts on the gimble housing, ps: I think u are supposed
to have new locking nuts but I just used locktight and it didn't fall off
this season but we didn't get out too much either crummy summer in Jersey,
how did u get the OD off anyway, wasn't it hard to pull it out, I used the
rams for that too, but my space inside was all rust due to a hole in the
bellows, the gimble bearing came out with the shaft, what a mess. anyway
that's how I did it but a mechanic I'm not, just a shade tree mechanic with
no tree for my boat, but I can't afford a marine mechanic either and will be
getting out of boating soon. GL
"Jim" wrote in message
om...
I pulled the outdrive off my OMC Cobra to repaint it but damn if I can
get it back on. I can't get the driveshaft to reseat in the gimbal.
After much effort I got it to within an inch. Any tips from those that
have been here before?

ps: grease the shaft and the u-joints and the gimble bearing before u put it
back in, gimble bearing isn't necessary just easier to see how much grease
to put back in and not making a mess in there.

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
I pulled the outdrive off my OMC Cobra to repaint it but damn if I can
get it back on. I can't get the driveshaft to reseat in the gimbal.
After much effort I got it to within an inch. Any tips from those that
have been here before?