Check for play by twisting. As long as they do not have any play then I'd
grease them up and go. You can also check the gimbal bearing inside the
drive housing while you have the drive out. Most people replace both
bellows and the one on the shift cable at the same time. They usually are
in about the same condition. It's not a pleasant job though. There are
some special tools that help. Did you check the raw water pump too? Now's
the time to replace it if it's marginal.

"Joe Blizzard" wrote in message
...
I've begun the bellows replacement on my Merc 165 / R-drive. This unit has
low hours, but it's 27 years old and doesn't appear to have had much
maintenance before I got it two years ago. I'm pretty sure this is the
first
time the drive has been off since it was put on in 1977. Anyway, when I
got
the drive off, I found an ounce or two of watery grease (or maybe it was
greasy water) in the bottom of the u-joint bellows and the u-joint yokes
have some surface rust on them. Should I be concerned about the condition
of
the joints? The u-joints move freely, the seals are intact, and I didn't
have any symptoms like noise or vibration.