How to Grease Gimball Bearing

rasbury

I have a zerk to grease the bearing but have been afraid to pump to much grease in there for fear of blowing something out-I do not see anywhere that grease will come out "the other side" somewhere to know when it is full...what would the procedure be? Brave III

Handymans342

I have that fitting inside. The mechanic just pumped in about 6 shots. Any excess will probably get flung inside the bellows. I hope Al answers this.

luckydog

Handyman is exactly right, I just did mine this past weekend and the mechanic said no more than six 

rasbury

hmmmm. just surprised there is not  way to know: previous maintenance is sketchy. Who am I kidding, it did not happen. Lets say it looses/uses six squirts a year- if it never was done, how much grease gets it back to normal, see what I mean? Most things you pump with a grease gun, you know a fill point.

Dream_Inn

I just had mine replaced and was told mine are sealed and cannot be greased.  If I use the zerk fitting, it will just go into the bellows.  Al, is the way to go?  My mechanic claims that this is the better route to go.

frenchship

I just replace mine with mercruiser parts and the gimbal bearing could be grease.(Bravo 111).
did my friend with a gimbal bearing from Sierra could not be grease Alpha 1.
Paul

MarkB

I have a 2011 B3 and was told my gimbal bearing cannot be greased due to the new enclosed design. 

06Rinker270

why remove the zerk?

raybo3

The new design are sealed bearings. Wont take grease. By forcing grease where you dont need it will cause you to blow the seals and cause more damage...

rasbury

Thanks for all the replies, I will pump some in and hope for the best. i want to make sure it has the proper amount: not to little, not to much but it does not sound like there is anyway to know for sure....and unfortunately it sounds like we may be all putting to little in, it's not full and possibly contributes to the failure...

rasbury

I could not get my grease gun to connect to the zert, is it a special size or just hard to get on?

Dream_Inn

probably hard to get on.  Make sure it is clean.  I also know at times, with fittings on my boat lift, I had a hard time getting grease to go in.  A little heat, or changing out the fitting, will work.  I would never recommend heating one on a boat though.  I guess also make sure the tool is clean inside as well.

rasbury

10-4, thx

Michael T

@Ras, I always clean any grease that might be left on a grease fitting so that I do not push contaminants into the fitting. As well, I push some grease out of the gun to get any possible contaminants off the tip of the gun's grease fitting. As we know, pushing some dirt into the fitting is probably worse than not greasing it LOL.

rasbury

Good tip...