Tim,
Sorry to hear about your troubles.Your loss is my gain though I guess cause I never knew til now lower units had bearing hubs.Gonna try check mine today since I don't think anyone else has.
One of my problems yesterday kept me busy for hours.Trolling motor wouldn't work but fortunately Frankies new staff mechanic eventually felt sorry for me,looked into it,and got er going by turning on a 'master switch'.(another new feature I was unaware of.)Pretty soon all these new gadgets will be beyond me.
On a brighter note,I did go fishing a couple hours and scored 4 very big smallies,a few pike and by golly I saw a reddish brown thing behind my Rap that I bet was about 50 inches long.No foolin,I wouldn't swim in that spot!!!
Since you shared some boating knowledge with me,here's back at ya-and this tip is valuable.Always check your boat the first trip out to make sure your rain gear is in it.It rained pretty hard here yesterday.