I was having the drive oil changed for winter and the mechanic found substantial metal shavings on the plugs. He, also said the drive oil (Royal Purple) had a tinge of metalic looking color. He wants to tear down in the spring to take a look. This is the starboard drive. Any ideas? Would you have the port side looked at also?
This is the 3rd season with Bravos, Imco lowers. About 45 hours on drives since they were reassembled in the Imco lowers. Still have the Bravo uppers. 700 NA hp.

were the metal particles chunky (large bits) or fine (smooth when rubbed with the finger)?

if the particles are fine...that is pretty common in the bravo 1 drives and im not sure i would worry too much...if the bits are chunky, more than likely one of your gears is getting chewed...

in reference to the metallic looking color in the drive oil...that would concern me...you are also running a lot of power to those bravo 1's...i hope you are gentle on the throttles...

what size boat? weight?

part of me wants to tell you to be proactive and check it out .

but you know they are gonna tell you its popped no matter what,lol

so id run it till it pops because its gonna be the same outcome.


Have you ever seen moroso climbing gearlube?

Crazy stuff I ran it in my race car and until then I blew up rears alike crazy after I started running it I never poped one again.

I havent run it in my OB sportys yet but Id check it out if I were you.

Some metal is ok in a low unit there are wear parts in them and if you do alot of shifting back anf forth on docking there will be more than if not.

Send the oil out for analisys is what Id do.

I ran across this winterizing a buddy's boat a couple years ago. Both magnets looked like Dr. J's afro circa 1976 and the oil glittered with shavings. He had a bearing going bad.

Definately rebuild the starboard one with metal in it. You could save yourself a lot of $$$. I would just keep an eye on the other one.

Anything more than the fine black sludge that is normally
found on the magnets is a problem.

Tear it down.

Monty,
You definitely need to have the one with the metal on the magnets gone through. More than likely the lower gears are going away, but no way to tell without looking. Were there any chunks or flakes on the magnets? That is an indication of gears giving up metal. Not good news, I know, but best to look into it now.
The other drive that looks clean, I would run it and keep an eye on the magnets.

Dick

am i under the wrong impression...if the particles are fine that is perfectly normal?!?! right...i mean gears are rubbing against eachother. small particles is a normal byproduct of friction...the real concern comes when the particles get large or chunky. the magnets arent going to be perfectly clean, that would be impossible...

i wouldnt go crazy if the particles are fine...should almost disintegrate when rubbed between the fingers...

Gears should not be wearing they are hardened but there are dog rings in many lowers like in a jerico type race box and the dog rings can get chunked up a bit.. Thats why I suggest oil anaysis it will tell you what the material in the oil is from.

Is it hardened, is it alluminum, bearing or gears etc.

We use it on construction equipment where the labor costs are very high.

Gears tend to go bad after they get very hot and then cool losing thier hard finish(rockwell) or if they are in misallignment. Usually a bearing going bad is to blame.

I guess it depends on weather you trust your mechanic to be honest with you or just to try and make a Buck off you.

Really appreciate the replies. Mr. Gadget, you set these up 3 years ago and have been worry free, until now. He said there were more than the traditional metal flakes, more like chunks and that it would continue until until it caused more damage. I do trust the guy, but wanted to get opinions on what might be the worst case. It will really bother me to think about this until spring.