She's makin a new noise captain' !!

Liberty44140

Just listened to the videos and it does sound like you guys have the same noise and I had the same noise two summers ago... replacing the gimbal bearing along with a fresh alignment solved it.

Willhound

Water is almost warm enough to get into now. Mechanic tells me that the bearing he installed last year is greaseable and suggests giving it a shot with a grease gun. If the noise changes or lessens then we know for sure.

Dream_Inn

@alswagg , this comes to me at a time when, well today, I  just had a new out drive (b2) installed with new coupler, and a new gimbal bearing.  I hit something submerged in the water and my big cow hub didn't budge, so things got taken out.  However, I drove the boat about an hour ago and just clicked in gear it has a bit of a whine 
(Maybe chug?). This is only at really low rpm.  Could it be thicker bearing?  I spoke with my buddy that has same boat, b3 drives, and had one replaced last year and has the same sound with new drive.  

Willhound

@J3ff how's your issue coming? I guess on hold until the move? I was out on Monday and anchored at a beach but with all the chop from boat traffic every time I tried to reach the grease fitting my new extended swim platform smacked me in the head and pushed me under. Finally gave up before I drowned. Noise hasn't gotten worse. Mechanic suggests just keeping an ear out and when he can he'll pull the boat and check it out.

J3ff

Still chugging along... it might be that I am super focused on it, but when I took it out last Sunday, I throttled up a little bit and heard a big growl... Then we had the most serious rain/wind storm I've ever been through on the water so when our phones started blowing up with warnings we pulled everything off the beach and we headed back to the dock on plane and I couldn't even hear her complaining about it. 

The fireworks were last night and again, could just be too focused on it, but it sounded louder to me. At one point I trimmed up a little and for the first time heard it change just a tiny bit (it got louder)...

Going to limp out Friday and Sunday (weather is no go on sat) and then have a month of work/traveling to do, so she'll either be out of the water or sitting at the dock waiting for repair or to be shipped (can't get anyone to give a solid date for either just yet.)  

I'll get in the water tomorrow and see if I can find that grease point, I'd think even if we get grease in there it's still going to need to be changed. 

Willhound

@J3ff that describes perfectly a gimbal bearing going bad. Exactly like mine was before changing fall of 2017. I made it though the entire 2017 season like that, maybe dumb luck but also consciously avoided real sharp turns under full power and don't trim up much on plane. After changing out (along with bellows, cables, seals etc.) it was absolutely perfect all of 2018. First start up this spring I noticed it and it was definite enough that there's no way I missed it last year. Only thing that had changed was adding my new swim platform so I thought maybe the noise was there, but the platform was trapping/amplifying the sound.
But a sudden revelation after speaking with my mechanic, every fall he pulls the drive, takes it to his shop, drains it, does a pressure test for several hours and then fills and re-installs. We're thinking that maybe the alignment is just slightly off from that procedure. Explains why no noise to sudden noise, so answer is to pull it again and re-align. But if we're going to do that we'll also change the bearing again anyway just out of caution for what they're worth. Meantime I'm just going to drive it and keep my ears peeled as it may be a few weeks before he can get at.

J3ff

Any progress Will? I'm off to search for rebuilt drives!

Dream_Inn

Alswagg said:

Dream, the noise of the wide bearing is typical rattle of the u joints.  Thunk thunk thunk 

Thanks Al.  It seems that my "whine" has actually gone away.  Maybe it was just the new gears breaking in?  I do wonder though why my friends B3 still make the whine.

J3ff

Looking like it may be new out drive time... anyone know how to tell what gear ratio the 270 takes? I've 2.0 and 2.2 so far.. 

aero3113

It should be stamped on the drive.

rasbury

How many hours on that drive? You will have a new boat!

reneechris14

My 2002 270 was 2.20 
You can turn the motor 2.2 and the prop will spin once around sir.

reneechris14

I also have a spare in my basement 

reneechris14

J3ff

Well you're not going to believe this... was talking to someone about the prop shaft leak and the noise and he says "Did you ever snag any fishing line?" - as a matter of fact I did, sometime a couple weeks before this noise showed up. Had to take the props off in the water and cut it off with a mask and knife. I feel dumb admitting it, but I never even thought a little fishing line could cause the leak which has no turned into a full blown problem. Funny thing is the boat just made it to Florida today, it's the first time I've seen it out of the water and look what was stuck on the trim tab...the same dam fishing line, must have not seen it when I got it off of the shaft, to be fair I was standing in water up to my neck getting the props off with the boat bouncing in some waves.. 

So I'm off to call up insurance and see what they have to say.

In another stroke of bad luck, when the guy dropped it in at the ramp, it was a super steep ramp and the trailer bow eye holder ripped the anchor and it's metal pulpit straight out of the fiberglass. So that's two claims in one day. Gotta love boating! 

rasbury

Yes..that line will go up the prop shaft and mess up the seal- unless all your drive fluid came out allowing water to go in, it should not have ruined your drive or caused any noise....

J3ff

rasbury said:

Yes..that line will go up the prop shaft and mess up the seal- unless all your drive fluid came out allowing water to go in, it should not have ruined your drive or caused any noise....

there was no oil in the reserve tank today.. alarm went off as soon as i turned the key.. 

rasbury

I would have pulled the drain plug to see what's going on in there...if your alarm was not going off while in the water, your drive should be ok I would think...

aero3113

In one of your pics you can see the oil dripping out and puddling, it must’ve all drained out before you put the boat in the water.

J3ff

aero3113 said:

In one of your pics you can see the oil dripping out and puddling, it must’ve all drained out before you put the boat in the water.

yup, I knew it was going to be low, didn't think all of it was going to be gone..didn't start it, just turned the key to the on position and it was blaring.  either way it'll be back out of the water shortly and to the mechanic. Just had to get it off of the shippers trailer. 

Willhound

Liberty44140 said:

Just listened to the videos and it does sound like you guys have the same noise and I had the same noise two summers ago... replacing the gimbal bearing along with a fresh alignment solved it.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. My mechanic pulls my drive every fall for a pressure test and oil change/grease etc in his nice heated shop. When checking my tarp the other day I noticed he hadn't re-installed which I wasn't surprised considering the lousy weather. But a quick chat confirmed that although we changed the gimbal bearing and seals and all bellows the fall of 2017, water has somehow gotten in and trashed the bearing again. The "thunk thunk thunk" noise I'd been hearing had pretty much stopped later in the season which I attributed to me greasing the u-joints and shaft, but in reality it was the bearing getting ready to grenade, so dodged a bit of a bullet there. Not sure which seal leaked so will change them all again. He is going to try and pinpoint where the water did get in however so we can keep an eye in future and try and figure out why it failed prematurely. He is recommending we also install the thicker, heavier gimbal bearing which I have seen @Alswagg warn against because of decreased clearance for the u-joints, but I'm willing to go along with my mechanics recommendation and see what happens. I'm beginning to think that with a 19 year old Bravo 3 it'll be a semi-annual ritual. Last go round with all bellows and cables was about a Grand CDN, so would expect somewhere in the neighbourhood of $600 CDN, about $450 USD which I consider more than fair. That will include the parts, pressure test, oil and labour. Pop it back on in the spring when things warm up.

J3ff

Willhound said:

Liberty44140 said:

Just listened to the videos and it does sound like you guys have the same noise and I had the same noise two summers ago... replacing the gimbal bearing along with a fresh alignment solved it.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. My mechanic pulls my drive every fall for a pressure test and oil change/grease etc in his nice heated shop. When checking my tarp the other day I noticed he hadn't re-installed which I wasn't surprised considering the lousy weather. But a quick chat confirmed that although we changed the gimbal bearing and seals and all bellows the fall of 2017, water has somehow gotten in and trashed the bearing again. The "thunk thunk thunk" noise I'd been hearing had pretty much stopped later in the season which I attributed to me greasing the u-joints and shaft, but in reality it was the bearing getting ready to grenade, so dodged a bit of a bullet there. Not sure which seal leaked so will change them all again. He is going to try and pinpoint where the water did get in however so we can keep an eye in future and try and figure out why it failed prematurely. He is recommending we also install the thicker, heavier gimbal bearing which I have seen @Alswagg warn against because of decreased clearance for the u-joints, but I'm willing to go along with my mechanics recommendation and see what happens. I'm beginning to think that with a 19 year old Bravo 3 it'll be a semi-annual ritual. Last go round with all bellows and cables was about a Grand CDN, so would expect somewhere in the neighbourhood of $600 CDN, about $450 USD which I consider more than fair. That will include the parts, pressure test, oil and labour. Pop it back on in the spring when things warm up.

Let us know where that water came in if you can. I have another friend who is going through this **** right now with us. I'm wondering if my transom assembly is to blame, or at least the people who put it in 3 years ago. It seems crazy to me that is all the MUCH OLDER boats I've own a leaking transom assembly never happened, yet you can read about it here happening to a LOT of people. 

PickleRick

It's a bit of a shame that while so much beefier and better suited for large boats the bravo outdrives are, the simplicity and. longevity of the tiny alpha 1 is something to marvel over.  Im trying to get my hands on a 27 ft searay from the 1980s, it sits on a trailer i need if im going to step up to a bigger boat.  It has original twin inboard alpha 1s mated to twin 4cyl inboards.  Not something you see anymore but it puts out good torque compared to a 4.3, twice as easy to work around and probably isnt terrible on fuel.

Willhound

I'll keep you posted @J3ff but I'm not expecting anything so drastic....I hope. Not sure but he probably won't tackle it now until closer to spring.

Willhound

Looks like I'm lucky. Happened to see my mechanic yesterday. Just a drive seal, I think the upper drive case cap maybe. He pulls my drive every fall when on the hard to pressure test and change oil which costs me $185 CDN, so with the new bearing and seals $300 CDN on top of that. About $370 USD total. Part of the reason for the low price is that we only changed the seals and gimbal bearing two falls ago and he feels that his work should last longer than that. So basically not charging me the extra labour to install the seals and bearing, just the parts. The drive alignment and re-mount was already covered under the annual inspection anyway. Love this guy. 

aero3113

Sounds like you have a nice and honest tech.

Willhound

Yep. He's known as the local "guru" . It helps that he also likes me because I never whine or second guess him and if we talk about an issue I can understand the conversation and am not afraid to tackle a lot of it on my own. He respects that and also respects how I always try to keep the boat tidy and ship shape so he always tries to help me out. Some of his customers biatch at him and just treat him like hired help. Those guys pay full price every time. Mutual respect goes a long way.