Replacing bearings on Eskimo Mako M43

[lunkerhunter87]

After 7 years of abuse it was bound to happen. The sealed bearings in the lower gear case have split and are exposed. I was wondering if anyone has any experience pulling them from the lower gear case?

I cleared out the grease, pulled the dowel and circlips and removed the gears but the bearings are in there nice and tight. I am worried about damaging the lower gear case by putting it in a vice and banging out the bearings because it seems to be made of a soft alloy.

Anyone have any tips? I am thinking my best bet would be to saw the bearing race to get it out and freezing the new bearings and heating the gear case to drop them in?

Thanks for any help from one of you armchair warriors who might have experience with this.

The lake trout are calling and I am grounded until I can fix this.

[Unclegillhunter]

just above in the equipment header there is an auger child forum go to the search box and type in eskimo mako 43 there is seven pages that have the 43 mentioned. you may find what you are looking for.
Keep it safe! JDL

[esox_xtm]

Since you don't have a shop press I might be inclined to take the gear case and replacement bearing to a machine shop and pay them to pop the old one out and press in the new one. Probably take 'em all of 15 minutes and if they charge more than $20 I'd be surprised. Or if you know a guy in a maintenance department at your work or someone else's you could get "government work" done for a 12 pack. That way nothing gets broken. Then you'd be sad.

[Chris338378]

I replaced the bearings in mine last year and all I did to get them out was take a piece of wood as wide as the bearing and tap them out.  I'd tap it, turn the piece of wood then tap it again and kept doing this so they came out straight.  The big thing is to TAP not hit it with a hammer like you're trying to kill it.  Then to put the new ones in I put a piece of wood across the bearing and tapped it in the middle so it drove the bearings in straight.  I didn't have any problems and took my time.  For replacement grease I used Amsoil Synthetic Multipurpose Grease, on the back of the tube it says NLGI#2.  One other thing is I put some WD40 on the shaft and had to work it in because it was tight going in through the new bearings. 

[JonPerry]

the other option would be a larger pin punch. it's easy to work the bearing out w/o damaging the case.

[lunkerhunter87]

Thank you so much for all of the great ideas. UncleGill thank you for pointing me in the right direction in the M43 forum I will see what I can find there.

My big fear is making matters worse and damaging things so the idea of bringing in the lower unit and having them pressed for a small fee or a 12 pack sounds great Esox.

Cris thank you for the recommendation for the bearing grease I was wondering what I was going to put in there. Tapping them in with a piece of wood is another brilliant idea.

JonPerry I will check out pin punches I am not familiar with them but all of the ideas are amazing - thank you!

Thanks for all of the great ideas fellas. Stay frosty!

[Okiefisherman]

I don't know if you have already repaired your auger but if you freeze your bearing before you install them they will go in way easier and there will be no damage to your new bearings.

[Chris338378]

Lunkerhunter87, how did you make out with your project?  One thing that you didn't mention and I forgot to suggest is to replace the gasket which goes between the halves of the case. 

[lunkerhunter87]

Lunkerhunter87, how did you make out with your project?  One thing that you didn't mention and I forgot to suggest is to replace the gasket which goes between the halves of the case.
[/quote

That is great advice I will see if I can get that shipped with the carb. Taking apart the carb I am pretty sure I damaged the gaskets and the price of a new carb vs tune up kit for the carb is almost the same.

I am just working on this again tonight after about a week traveling for the holidays. Got the bearings out and reseated without a hitch (Great advice to freeze them Okie) and was just rereading the forum for your grease recommendation Chris.

I will try to put together this carb but have a feeling I may be ordering a new one with the gasket. Ill keep y'all posted!

[Chris338378]

I wouldn't even bother trying to put the carb together without new gaskets for it because no matter how careful you are they always seem to tear.  Also if you have ethanol in your gas it's been eating at the gaskets.  The gasket you need to go between the halves of the case where you changed the bearings is called a Powerhead Transmission Gasket (part number 8919) and only costs $2.08.  You certainly can't go wrong changing that gasket and for the price there's no reason for not changing it.  One other thing is I would call them to place your parts order because you'll probably get better shipping prices than on their website.