I just bought a 23 gdlt and have only had it in the water twice. The first time was a test drive and I didn't notice any grease on the transom, but the grease fitting on the upper seal housing had come out prior to this. After I brought it home, I put a new fitting in the housing, cleaned all the old grease out of the pressure lubricator, greased all the fittings and greased the shaft until the lubricator was filled up. I took it out a couple days later and ran it for probably 2-3 hours. Later that day when I was cleaning it out, I noticed a good bit of grease slung onto the transom. It was on both sides of the transom and spread out pretty good, so I don't think it could have come from the new fitting. Where could it be coming from? Could the upper seals be bad? I consumed about half of the grease in the lubricator. I haven't noticed grease anywhere else and there is basically no play in the shaft when I push up/down on the prop.

Why dont you just crank it up in the driveway and run it a while and watch. upper seal, lubricator, zirks. did you pump a bunch in the u-joint? thats what usually slings it.

My u-joint actually doesn't have a grease fitting.

If I understand what I read in the go devil manual you only put about ten squirts in the center zirk only one or two in the others

X2 on u joint

so it has a sealed u joint? so what year is this gdlt? bearings or bushing up top? when you fill it with grease is the lubricator 3/4 full. im gonna say top seal most likely if its blowing that much grease. lubricators are supposed to over flow when the housing heats up and the grease expands. if its cruded up and you have it slap full its gonna blow somewheres, usually seals.

definitly upper seal, also you need to go to a lubricated U-joint cause when that one ceases up you will wish you did, trust me, i have been through it

garjacker,
It is a sealed u-joint and it's a 2000 or 2001 model. I believe it is a bearing up top. I cleaned the lubricator out when I bought the motor and filled it about 3/4 full. I was under the impression the lubricator was meant to keep positive pressure and prevent water from entering the shaft.

take'emgator,
I watched today, and the grease is definately coming from the upper seal. And I will probably change out the u-joint pretty soon.

How hard is it to change the upper seal? All the information I can find is on changing out the lower ones.

The easiest way i found to do it ws remove the motor from the frame so you can have more room to mess with it, we're talking a few bolts here and there, take the U-Joint loose and remove the motor, take your prop off and slide the shaft out, this is a good time to see if your shaft is bent, they are very inexpensive to replace, i did this even though i didn't need to to rule out the shaft. Go-devil is good at getting you parts pretty quick, you will need the serial # off the frame/motor. Unscrew the seal out of the top of the frame and change it out. We're talking a 1.5 to 2.5 hour job at the most. Thats my experience with it. Aslo i would suggest changing both the upper and lower seals and get you a fresh start!

Have plenty of shop towels ready cause it can get messy

the last time I checked with GD they said it would be about $115 for the parts to replace every thing in the housing + the drive shaft. but that has been about 3 years ago, and it was a 1995 motor. so if I was taking it apart I would just do it all. that way you Know exactly what you have.

[quote="countryhick"]garjacker,
It is a sealed u-joint and it's a 2000 or 2001 model. I believe it is a bearing up top. I cleaned the lubricator out when I bought the motor and filled it about 3/4 full. I was under the impression the lubricator was meant to keep positive pressure and prevent water from entering the shaft.

No not really, its just a couple of pounds pressure in the cup pushing through an 1/8th inch hole. when you are running, the grease heats up and expands, thats the positive pressure. the lubricator provides a place for the grease to expand to to protect the seals from blow out. it also provides an indicator as to when you need grease. Btw IMHO when you buy seals and bushings,ect. Keep the older style seals and end cap for the bottom. the seals are like 3 bucks apiece. the upgrade is like $20! if you do regular maintinance, the are super easy to change, the only thing that is a beast on these things is the prop freezing on, sometimes the yokes. you can do a complete changeout in 1 1/2- 2 hrs.

you will need the serial # off the frame/motor?

You also need the number off the motor to buy parts? Reason I'm asking is cause I had the motor changed out so could I use that serial #??

I give them the # off of the frame, the reason they ask for this is cause if a motor comes up missing or something to that nature it is a sure fire way to track it down. On the other hand sometimes it can be a pain the in the Arse. Make sure when reinstalling the seals you put them in the right way...lol Trust me it is a pain to tear the whole thing back down cause you put them in backwards, its kinda like packing seals the go in a certain way. Also before you put the shaft back in lightly grease it to help pass through the seals and not tear them, and slightly spin the shaft to help it pass through the seals flawlessly.

Hope all this helps bud if not get on here and lets us know where you stand

I put masking tape over the threads. That seems to help.

For a new setup - it shouldn't be having issues this soon -
I'd check the upper seals an if pooched call the place you bought it from and gripe for a new seal.

No need to take motor off to change upper seal, also by removing motor you could create an alignment issue when reinstalling. Do not take motor off unless absolutely necessary.
Turn prop around backwards, and place wood block against the prop and hit with a sledge to seperate shaft from lower yoke. If you have much trouble with the prop or yoke seperating use a little heat from a torch to help it out. An extra set of hands is very helpful also.
Once shaft is seperated unscrew seal/bearing housing w/ a pipe wrench, and replace the seals. Clean the threads up good and put some rtv on them before re-install.
The new style w/ bearings is an aluminum housing w/ grease zerk, and the old style is steel.
Call go devil w/ your frame serial number, and they will hook you up.

I would also like to add that when you put the prop back on, make sure you leave the 1/2 turn slack per the instructions from go devil. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people having issues with getting prop off and it is due to the fact they have the prop snug against front and back nut. If you leave the slack, and put anti seize on threads, it is much easier to take the prop off when doing maintenance and changing props. Just my .02 worth.

I use nickel anti-seize and tighten the prop tight. I never have a problems breaking it loose. If you leave it loose the anti-seize will wash out. Just make it a habit of taking the prop off and putting new anti-seize every 25 hours. We let one float at work and over time the threads wore and caused vibration.

also get a 3/4-10 die and tap and chase the threads on the shaft and prop everytime.

Thanks for all the help guys. I just got a new prop for it, so I may just change the seals on the bottom too while I have it off.