Just got a 03 Alpha 1 4.3L. It was not run this year. Found a broken shift cable boot and very small amount of water in the gear lube. Pulled the drive and found water in the u-joint boot. There is rust on the yokes from soaking in an inch of water. Looks like the gimbal bearing is junk. The u-joints are GKN perma-lube and feel good.

When I push the drive up, I don not see any cracks or other signs of degradation to the U-joint bellows. The failed shift cable bellows is full of small cracks when stretched.

Should I replace the u-joints and the u-joint bellows?

Thanks for the help.

yes change all the bellows if ones cracked they will all be suspect. the labor time to pull the drive and all is done. it's just a few more minutes to change u-joint bellows. if there was water in the u-joint bellows then it either has a crack or the boat had to take enough water as to spill in from the inside of the engine compartment which opoens up a whole new list of issues

ps. change u-joints they are not terribly expensive. in fact you can purchase what is none as a transom seal kit that includes all of the bellows and a shift cable assy. with an outdrive gasket.

when you do bellows, you do all 3 of them and not just one