I am needing to replace upper gears and clutch on my 1995 Bravo 1. When looking up parts I found there were differences based on outdrive serial #. My serial # is OF493007. My question/concern is this: I have a buddy who has a kit with part # 43-883473A3 that he willing to sell me cheap, but according to my research, I need part # 43-883473A4. Are these interchangeable, will the "A3" work in place of "A4"? Thank you for your help!

key in the part #, click on picture.


http://www.mercruiserparts.com/partsByNumber.asp

if you click on the picture, it appears that the a3
has only the gears, bearings, garter spring and clutch.
where the a4 has shift hardware and vertical shaft included.

I noticed this when I reviewed part #'s, that's what caused me concern....that they are including these additional parts because they are needed with my year drive to make the new gears/clutch operate properly? Bottom line, are the gears/clutch different in the A3 than the A4? If they're the same, and all I need are a few specific shims and so on, then I'm not wasting $'s on gears I'm not able to use.

Illusive,
the upgrade gear kit contains just about everything in the upper. The old gears are no longer available from Merc. The new parts dont interchange with the old. I am not sure about the diff in part numbers without doing some research. I do have used standard B1 parts, but a full set of gears and clutch, all I have are 1.36 ratio.
if you want, give me a call and I can explain what I mean. 616-403-1006.

Hope this helps..
D*ck

JaayTeee & D*ck,
Thanks for the input. My concern with A3 gear set is; am I wasting my $'s because the gears won't work with my unit. D*ck, appreciate the offer to call...I will try to reach out tomorrow.

The A3 is just gears. The A4 is everything including shaft and clutch. It's the update which is probable what you need. Any questions call; 954 237 0332

John is correct. you will need the whole kit to upgrade your drive.

Part number for the gears that should be in there is no longer made you need a whole new gear set the gears are taller and the shifter is shorter new gears and old shifter will not work.

Thanks to all for your inputs. I am going to take apart and see if I can find unusual wear on clutch/gear surface.

My drama continues. I disassembled upper, couldn't find anything wrong; gears, clutch, springs, bearing looked remarkebly good....but went ahead and flipped the clutch around to see if it would make a difference....it still is very difficult to get out of forward gear. One last ditch effort before I buy all new 'A4" gear set, I did notice the spring loaded detent ball assembly that presses against detent on shift lever was very loose within the backing plate hole, is it possible the shaft of detent ball is canting sideways enough to bind on backing plate hole? The backing plate is a stainless unit from Latham if it matters.