Grinding Vibration- Bravo 1
 

I recently redid a lot of things on my 24' Wellcraft after it had sat for four years as a result of an insurance claim.

Long story short, I decided to change my outdrive fluid. I followed the steps found online. Removed the prop, the plug behind it, and the vent plug. I let it drain for three hours.

I then pushed 1 Qt of Gear oil back up through the drain plug. I put two more in the vent hole.

Everything appeared full and fine. I put the boat on the water, and everything seamed fine at first. After trolling along slow for 3-5 minutes I started hearing a grinding vibration.

I haven't used the boat since. Is it an air pocket?

Where did you read to add gear lube in the vent hole? All the new lube should be pushed up from the bottom. Once the lube comes out the vent hole, put the vent plug in and continue pumping in new fluid until you see it appear in the bottom of the gear lube bottle on the motor. Then top the bottle off.

Was the noise/vibration constant or only when turning?

The vent hole is just that. It allows air to get out as the gear lube is pushed in from the bottom. All gear lube needs to go in from the bottom fill/drain hole.

If its grinding, you probably messed up the gears.

I didn't know that all of it had to be pushed all the way up to the container on the engine. Putting one Quart in that way was a lot of work....... Is there a trick to it?


Is there a way of bleeding it out?

That method too could lead to an air pocket inside the tube that runs from your reservoir bottle to your drive. The correct way to add drive lube to avoid any chance of air is to:

Pump lube into fill hole until lube just appears to the bottom edge of vent hole. Remove fill tube, insert fill plug and tighten. Leave vent plug out. Climb into boat and add lube to reservoir bottle, leave cap off. Allow gravity to pull lube down resevoir tube and into drive. Wait for lube to exit vent hole. Once you see lube coming out of vent hole, insert plug and tighten. Add cap to reservoir bottle.

All done and no air.

I never remove the vent plug - just pump it up from the bottom. until it gets in the resevoir.

You said the boat sat for a while - the gimbal bearing hasn't expired on you has it?

I didn't check the Gimbal bearing. I simply drained it and replaced the fluid. Wish I would have known the right way to install the new.
What's next? Do I need to tear it down?

You need to know what you are doing and have special tools to set up a Barvo 1 drive correctly.

First thing to do is drain the gear lube and look for chunks or pieces of metal. BTW, a Bravo 1 drive needs more than 3 qts of lube to be filled completely. Its closer to 4 qts.

I would have to agree the gimbal bearing is where I would look.

Interesting approach. Not sure how my method can trap air in the drive. Been doing it this way for 11 years and not one problem. The level in the bottle at most drops 1/2 oz. after running the boat after a gear lube change.