Metal shavings on drain plug
 

Drained the oil out of the drives to prepare for my bellow change & one of the drives had some metal shavings on the drain plug. Oil was also much darker in nature & im pretty sure had some water in it. The other drive looked good, but think i will send them both in for a refresh. Any speculation on the source of the shavings?

Chunks or flakes indicate gear material. Typical with lower gears or XR upper gears.

Dick

Thanks, these were flakes, & TRS drive. Wasnt sure if normal from either the upper or lower.

I'd be looking into them. Might save some additional expense.

They are coming off this week & should have them dropped of over the weekend.

If the drive is out for inspection, can i still go ahead & change the bellow or do i need to wait? Would like to try & get it done over over next couple weekends.

I would wait to make sure whatever parts are needed to rebuild are available. Who is performing your drive rebuilds. I have a guy here at Legendary Marine in Destin, Fl that use to travel the circuit and build drives.

This is bad...

A certain limited quantity of tiny particles (like dust) is normal - it's what gears do. Larger pieces like flakes and chunks are a problem.
kjm5125's photo is indeed bad.

In addition to just looking at the plug I usually strain my lube through a fine mesh strainer to get the whole picture. You don't want anything visible caught in the screen.

I drained both of mine thru a paint strainer and got nothing. Fine stuff on drain plug mags. but one came nice clean and green and the other was black. I'm a bit worried too.

After looking at kjm's i should stop complaining. :eek: mine wasnt anywhere near that!

Could a bad bellow allow water in the bilge as well as the drive? Be nice if i could fix two issues at once.

Mine are the same way. Left hand rotation drive is pretty dark.

Now that you say that, it was my left hand turning drive as well. Wonder if I should switch them while there off to "spread the wealth"?

Interesting observations on darker oil in LH drives. Darker usually means hotter.

Now, it's common knowledge that Bravos can turn either way because they have symmetrical gear patterns but that necessarily doesn't mean that the oil is flowing properly turning opposite directions...could there be less cooling (foaming, etc.) when turning LH versus RH?

It's also the drive which I use the least. I spend much of my time running on one motor when not on plane. RH has the PS pump.

Hey Scott, so this will probably be a dumb question but is the rotation based on looking at the drive from behind or from the front? It was my starboard drive that was darker, & i assumed i was turning the props out, but i will verify. The port drive was nice & green.

I have never had a TRS drive, but on other drives a bad bellows can sink the whole boat. A leaking bellows is not something to be taken lightly

Looking at the props from the rear. LH is the one spinning counter clockwise.

Thanks, thats how i was looking at things.