Mercruiser alpha1 exhaust bellows or exhaust tube

[chinook35]

I got tired of fighting with alpha 1 exhaust bellows. I have the tool and have changed many bellows , but , last year I replaced my bellows with the tube , and have never looked back. Yes , it is louder with the tube and you get some exhaust soot in the transom , but I can live with both. It takes about 15 minutes to install the tube 

anybody else had any experience??

Mercrusier came out with the tube to relieve pressure build up in the bellows on big block engines.  The bellows would balloon and put pressure on the drive shaft bellows causing wear and failure  

the only time the exhaust goes through the prop is in full down/ in trim 

im a happy camper with the tube 

 

Edited March 31 by chinook35

[chinook35]

Cheeserider, 

the tube requires no special tools

it attaches to the transom with a single clamp

it is not attached to the gimbal housing at all

it has an oval mouth that will mate with gimbal at full down/i trim

 

[landingzone]

Never heard of this. I have twin Alpha1s. Thanks for passing along. Still have the shift bellows to change. 

[chinook35]

Shift cable bellows is a chore  get the manual before you start   I replaced the lower shift cable two years ago   I had to do it twice !! The cheap lower cable I bought on Amazon was too sticky. The seller refunded my money   I bought sierra cable and that was the ticket.  Not a fun job