stevel

step one - see if the imput shaft is turning when you put the drive in forward. (Shaft between engine flywheel into transom plate) If it is turning at engine speed it is ok. The coupler is usually damaged from wave jumping (deckboat???) or alignment issues. Quick and Easy

step two - check the cable really well. They rub on things near the transom plate. If it appears OK check the cable adjustment. Quick and Easy

step three - pull off the bravo drive and try and shift it by hand while turning the prop - and U joint. If it shifts and turns by hand - keep looking for problems inside the boat. Most likely a cable / shifter issue.

Steve

Helmwurst

Thanks everyone for the advice. Going down to the Lake on Friday eve and will start checking things out on Saturday. Couple comments: Boat shifts just fine going into reverse, props turn and backs up like normal. Move the shifter to nuetral, no problems nice and smooth. Push it into forward and nothing. I am hoping for a shifter problem, but my gut feeling is gear floor or clutch. I will post results of Saturdays work when I get back.

Thanks again....
Helmwurst

Luke_Chinewalker

bolt a left hand prop on that bad boy and you will go forward,sorry not what you want to hear but i suspect it is the cone clutch.

Helmwurst

Not good news so far. Pulled off the drive on Sat and drained the oil. Looks bad, smells bad. Guy I bought boat from was ripped off by another shady dealer! Lube probably has not been changed the last two times they said they changed it! Any way, bottom plug had a little more than normal filings on it, the top plug had enough crap on it that when you pulled it out some of the filings fell off back into the drive! Pulled top and back covers off and did not see any broken gears or major damage. Clutch engages both ways but slip when you hols the drive shaft and turn the prop. Will not know the extent of the other damage to the bearings and gears etc until I tear it all the way down. Needless to say, trust who you let perform any service on your rig. I personally know the guy I bought this from and he was ripped off by a dealer who does not give a rats a## about who he screws! I am calling him today to be shure he does not take his new boat to this guy for service.

rhino

As long as it's apart rebuild the whole unit. What year is the drive? pre-1998 is notorious for drive floor breaking, though unusual with a small block. New replacement gearset is much better. Some of that trash could get in the lower but I hope not as the Bravo three is a completely different animal from other Bravo's, many more parts obviously. I agree with checking the coupling and cable first. Bummer about the gears! That oil can get old and ugly looking fast when the gears puke. I have never seen the actual clutch itself break, usually the floor and on rare occasions the upper clutch/drive shaft even seen the gear(friction cone) separate once. Easy fix inexpensive??? Sounds like close couple unit. If it was drive coupler you would have to pull the motor to get to it. Good luck to you.

Mr Gadgets

Helmwurst

I found some metalic oil in my drive and I just replaced it.. then it attempted to lock up.. the prop shaft was hard to turn. When I tore it down.. every bearing has excessive wear on it. So I will rebuild it myself. Tired of trusting the pros... Pull it down and check it all over..

Good luck!!

Dick

rhino

Aluminum shavings or steel Mr. Gadgets? Check the housing well the upper is rather "consumable". Do you have std pre or post '98 or XR/XZ? It's not so much the skill of the Mechanic as it is the desire to do it right. You can probably to it yourself, take your time.

mpally

Who is the dealer? I assume it is a LOTO dealer?

Mr Gadgets

rhino,
I didnt mag check it.. but I do see where the gears are worn and the bearings have that not shiny look.. on the races. The drive started life around 94 or so.. The upper case was replaced, then a SS tower installed, Imco extreme gears, then Diesel gears were installed when the Imco's failed after 12hrs/no power applied. Then I had XR gears installed in the case. I see no evidence of wear on any of the aluminum case. Upper or lower.
I will put it back together with my careful eye on setup and see what happens. Thanks for your help..

Dick

rhino

As far as wear on the case I mean the thrust washers pushing up aluminum as they begin an elliptical path. I must mention I have very little experience with after market parts and zero in modifying a std housing to accept non standard gears. XR gears installed? Straight cut 19/16 XR gears in an aluminum tower housing modified to accept steel tower? I have no knowledge of an XR drive gear being built to fit the L15 spline arrangement of std units. The X and XR/XZ units use the larger L19 (splines) arrangement input stub yokes. Are you using the complete input shaft asm. to accomplish this? I suppose that could be possible, don't forget to install newer gimbal bearing and bellows retaining sleeve if that is what you used. They are nessecary for clearance of the larger u-joint asm. as would be mods. of the retainer nut. I am very curious about what you have there.