Bad Bellows?

[High Bidder]

Last week I got my boat out of storage and hooked up the earmuffs and ran it for 15 minutes. Today I pulled the outdrive(OMC Cobra) to grease the u joints and found water in the drive bellows. Now I'm not sure if the water is from last year and the bellows is bad or if its from this year and the water pump gasket leaked where it goes from the outdrive part to the pivot housing. There isn't any rust on the u joints. Is there any other possible reason for water to be in the bellows? The outdrive gasket seemed fine. Is ther other parts I should be changing other than the bellows and gaskets? Do you have to remove the pivot housing to change the bellows or can it be done without removing it? I have been putting off changing the bellows for a few years because it looked a little difficult.

Thanks

High Bidder

[ray koziatek]

their is a weep hole on the inside of the boat even with the plug out the drain could of frozen solid and if ya had some extra water in the bilge it could of got high enuf to go into the bellows from that hole.....at least thats how mine is ....did ya ever launch with plug out and get same results ,simular sitution (heavy rain with plug in? udder than that yer gonna have to wait till hank gets up from his "senior nap"..a good visual will usually find weak spots or cracks in the bellows if their there ..but not always...Its a fun job too

[High Bidder]

I have my boat stored inside so it probably didn't get any water in from the inside. I did notice however that the bellows clamp wasn't very tight. I now am trying to figure out how to loosen the shift cable so I can remove the pivot housing. My manual isn't very clear and their instructions didn't exactly work. I loosened the nut on the cable but it turns the whole cable. I know I'll probably bust it and I will need more parts. If anyone can explain the proper procedure for removing the cable I would appreciate it.

Thanks

High Bidder