Drive Maintenance
 

What kinda maintenance do I need to do to my Bravo I outdrive? When I winterized it I drained the old high performance fluid and filled from the bottom with new. There's a grease fitting on the starboard side so I squirted a few pumps of grease in there. But other than that what else is there? What about lubricating the drive shaft or universal joint? Checking alignment? anything else? I'm still kinda new to the I/O think, last boat was a jet drive, virtually no maintenance. The engine I'm good with and I'm pretty mechanicaly inclined I just dont know a whole lot about the drive yet.

Its a good idea to remove them at the end of the season to inspect, u-joints, bellows, alignment, pressure check drive and grease splines. Newer drives have perma lube joints and you can grease splines from inside at coupling. As it gets older inspection becomes more important. Hi hp there is more to keep up with.

Jim is right.. Even with the sealed U joints it is still a good idea to periodically pull the drive.. This way you can check for debris build up & clean it off around the cable, check gimble bearing & everything else in there.. Also depending on the age you should be checking your boots & hoses as well there.. :) ALso you should still periodically replace the impeller even though the bravo doesnt have one in the drive (its engine mounted)... :) Jamie / lakeside


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I have mine off now, replacing gimbal assembly on one side. Sounds dumb but how exactly do I check the gimbal bearing and what am I looking for.
Since I found out how easy it is to pull outdrive off to grease the u joints and check bellows at end of season.

It should spin freely by hand & not be loose or have any rough spots or rust.. If it isnt like that then replace it.. :) Jamie / Lakeside

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