Bravo One implosion?
 

So I just picked up a 1999 Baja Outlaw, the boat has 179hours on it, I have put a grand total of 11 on it. Had it out this weekend and was cruising along at about 60mph next thing I know kaboom hear a horrible noise from the drive and the boat stops dead. Got it out of the water and started poking around turning the prop by hand and see something beating around in the boot of the outdrive. With that in mind I am guessing that there is a universal joint that broke in there? I don't have much experience with this type of outdrive, bravo one, not sure if that could be what happened or not. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure what you mean when you said you saw something beating around in the drive boot. Did you take the drive off the boat and look into the transom assembly.??? Does the prop spin freely.??? If the prop is jammed up and you can't turn it easily by hand them I'm sure something broke in the drive. Usually not a universal joint. You could take off the top cap and look at the upper. I would take it to someone who does Bravo service if you are not familiar with it. Start shopping for a replacement. might be cheaper than fixing yours.

What he said !!

I didn't open anything up. The prop spins freely, no problem there. But when you spin it you can see something flopping around on the inside of the rubber boot, like I would assume that there would be some sort of universal joint in there that allows the drive to move up and down.

You likely broke the socket...see item #5 in the link:
http://www.sterndrive.info/mercruise..._gearcase.html

Unlikely but you may have broken the ear off of item #6.

Be sure to replace the u-joints siince you are in there. You can save some money by getting the spicer u-joint or napa u-joint.

Spicer #5-1306X
Napa #315G

They are around $16 the $40 + from merc.

Wow, I'm beginning to feel a little bit better about this whole deal like maybe it won't cost me four grand to get this thing fixed. Thank you very much for the help.

While you where running, how much was the drive trimmed up? Not hard to break a u joint if you start or run the engine with it trimmed way up. IS IT?

OK,,,what i don't get ,,,is how can u see inside the rubber boot if u spin the prop ?????????
And the drive on the gimbal ????????????

mmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhh.

Are u talking about the propshaft carrier ????

I am lost .

I think he means he can see the bellow moving when he turns the prop. If you trim up a little and look up at the bellow you can see most of it. When the socket breaks it will hit the bellow.

If you put the drive in gear then spin the prop, the u-joints, and socket will spin inside the bellow likely bumping it. You will be able to see the bellow moving.

If u-joints or socket let go it will rip the bellows and allow you to see right in there.

Makes sense now !!! SORRY

Just don't over trim a boat ,,,they are ment to run @ level ,,maybe +2-3 not more.
If u need to trim a boat higher then that ,,,dial it in corectly and get props that wok.

Just my 2 cents.

If u wnat a rooster tail ,,,buy a race boat with SSM drives.


Later:evilb:

Maybe I did have it over trimmed, I wasn't trying to blast a massive rooster tail to look cool though.

Well now I'm back to feeling like an idiot about this whole thing

Why?

Did you pull the drive yet? should only take 10-20 minutes depending if you have hyd. steering to disconnect.

You will instantly know what happened.

You should check your trim limits switch. (one switch on each side of your hinge pins, unless it is a HD gimbal) One switch is for a guage/indicator and the other is the limit switch. To adjust them you lossen the two screws. You want to adjust it so it only trims up to you your know max trim height. This will stop you from ever over trimming.

To go higher you would need to use your trailer switch.