Outdrive maintenance,pretty easy and could be done yourself?

[ProfitOfDoom]

How many of you guys do it yourself? I'll most likely be buying this boat next week and was just reading up on how to care for outdrives,tips,tricks etc. here is the video I watched.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB8rMCQeZyk
I seen a few vids on youtube and it looks pretty strait forward,just wondering about the people who actually do this and have attempted,was it as really strait forward and somewhat easy as this video shows it to be?
In other words if I get a manual and read up on it watch a vid a few times could I pull this off myself without having any experience,or should I not even try?
In this vid I think he said its a alpha 1,,the one that will be on mine is a bravo 3,is it still pretty much the same thing as far as changing bellows?

Now on the vid he shows the bad bellow with a rip in it,Now if your currently have your boat in the water and running with this ripped up bellows,would water be visible if looking at the rear end around the transom area,or would the water be trapped between transom and outdrive not showing any signs of leaking and just start causing damage to parts and transom rotting?

[knotreel]

You meant "repairs" ? Maintenance, there's not much to maintenance, just change the oil, lube the bushings and center bearing (all done with the three,i think, grease fittings on the back of the drive). Since you are not familiar with these, buy an aftermarket manual the follow the instructions. As to the bellows, A hole would usually mean water leaking into the bilge. The bellows and other operations like ujoints and center bearings replacement are mostly straight forward but there are a few little tricks or steps that the manual will tell you that may not be obvious, so get the manual. sometimes just getting the drive off the housing call be difficult if it has been awhile since it has been apart. I have never pulled a bravoIII so there may be some more things I don't know about but I am guessing it won't be much worse than an alpha series. I would not tear into the bellows replacement unless there is strong evidence that it is bad. Mostly, I think you will find the Mercruiser to be a fairly low maintenance unit and pretty sturdy as well. The way I check out I/O Mercruiser boats before buying is simple, look for metal the oil, check for noise and if is shifts, then you are good to go.

[LouC]

I've been doing my own maintenance on my 88 OMC Cobra for a while...I do the yearly drive pull...lube the gimble+ujoints, check for water in the bellows...change the drive oil and check for water in it (if found I take it to the shop to get tested/resealed). When I remount the drive in the spring I install a new impeller (Cobra impeller is in the upper gear case unlike an Alpha) and that's pretty much it. I build a drive stand to make it easy to R+R the drive with no back strain...they weight between 90 and 100 lbs...maybe more for a BIII...so you don't want to have to lift it and try to keep the ujoints lined up when reinstalling. I built mine with adjustable bed casters so I can get the height set just right.

I suggest you get an OE manual as some of the aftermarkets are not as clear on some points. But O/D maintenance is really pretty simple....