Bearing Housing Grease Question

[Blazin14]

I have a AR230 2007, and wondering about adding grease to the bearing housing, but the manual is not that clear.

I have some questions?

1) How can you tell if it needs grease added? squeeze the tubing?
2) Can you use marine wheel bearing grease?
3) I have grease slippage, it that normal, why does that happen? (see pictures)
4) Is the grease for the main prop cone (housing), if so it seems very important and Yamaha should provide a more exact method? (yes /no)

 

[CrankyGypsy]

the grease doesn't actually grease the bearings - they are all sealed. what it does is add an extra layer for sealing out water and prevent the seal from drying out.

the design is flawed, if you ask me. if you're really aggressive, you can blow out the rear seal - which is worse than never having grease in the first place. but you have to be pretty ham-fisted to to do that. i found that the entire space between the seal and the bearing doesn't always fill with grease. you can't avoid a bubble since there's only one way in and one way out - air will get trapped. i recently replaced my housings and i thoroughly filled the voids with grease before adding the seals.

(1) i removed the tube altogether and can grease the nipple at the housing - it doesn't have a ball valve, so i can just add some and pull the gun off the nipple: if it pushes some back out, i'm full. i keep a "rubber vacuum cap" over the housing nipple. most test the tube like you mention, but that isn't obviously discernible.
(2) just about any waterproof grease will work. i use Green Grease.
(3) seapage? it is probably coming out the bottom of the tube at the housing nipple: too much grease and nowhere else to go. the vulcanized rubber can also let go of the housing - this can allow grease to squeeze out and also let water in.
(4) yes, it's very vague. but it's a closed system - it shouldn't need much grease (if any) anyways.