[THEFERMANATOR]

Check the bellows and see if there hard or cracking, if there still soft and pliable you should be alright. The gasket is what seals the shift linkage side. There is an O-ring that goes in the water hole and another square O-ring that goes around the outdrive where it slides into the helmet. Grease normally gets into the drive bellows when you grease the gimbal bearing. The gimbal bearing has a grease fitting on the starboard side almost half way up next to the hull. To just re-install the outdrive so real special tools are needed. If your going to rebuild the gimbal with new bellows you'll need a gimbal socket, a bellows expander and some sort of socket to get the shift cable out of the helmet. It is also a good idea to check your engine alignment while you have the outdrive off.

The one I just rebuilt was actually my first, but I'm a bit more than the average shade tree guy as well, used to make a living as a mechanic. If you need to have the bellows done it is a trying job, I'll give it that. It is actually getting hard to find shops to work on sterndrives, around here most shops turn em away.