A quick back round I have an early model 1989 Bravo 2 serial #0C505291 that had a delay going into forward gear. It has relatively low hours (230) on it. I believe this issue to be a worn out clutch cone. It is worse when the drive is cold and improves once warmed up. My boat is NOT a go fast performance type but is equipped with a 5.7 L and I am looking for some advice on the Bravo Drive.

So as boating season here in NJ approaches I am again turning my attentions to my delayed shifting issue. Unfortunantly a new or rebuilt drive is out of my budget right now but I have found a new old stock clutch assembly (NLA) part # 52-807375A 3 for sale a very reasonable price however the clutch called for in my unit also NLA is 52-807375A 1 can anyone tell me if this will work or am I bound for a total upgrade or a rebuild. I consider myself a fair Mechanic and have already purchased a used inch pound torque gauge to do the rolling bearing pre load. I just don't want to totally destroy my drive by using an incompatible part. Thank in advance for any input.

There have been numerous upgrades of the parts inside the Bravo drive shaft housing so you have to make sure they fit each other. This includes cone clutch and shift fork among others.
Also when the clutch wears so does also the mating surface in the gear so replacing the clutch is only half the fix.
My proposal would be the do an upgrade with a new gear and clutch set or bite the bullet and find a later complete drive. Your version will still suffer from not having the oil circulation channel in the casting.

Sounds like a shift cable problem.

Alex thanks for the response I am just trying to avoid the obvious. Thankfully the drive still functions and I will be nice to it and keep it's oil changed until I can afford a rebuild or a replacement. I actually have a b1 of similar vintage with the same problem in reverse. Are the newer drives also prone to this problem?

Jray the shift cable had been suggested on another forum and I tested it by pulling the cable off the shift plate and shifting it manually while watching the prop's delayed engagement. I wish it was that simple!!!!

In this case boat means "bust out a couple of thousand"

Ive worked on more of these drives than I can count, when a clutch is bad it will slip when under power and when they have a delay in shifting its something wrong with the way it shifts. If you can get it apart its easy to see a bad clutch. I have alot of old used Bravo parts if you need an older clutch I could probably help you out. Also what are you using for gear oil? you need to use hp oil in that drive.

Also i forgot to mention in last post, just pulling the upper cable off the shift plate wont tell you the whole story, the cable could be stretched, bent, corroded, adjusted wrong, or coming apart at the crimp. It needs to be adjusted correctly with the tool. If the cable if hanging up a little it will also shift slowly.

Some more back round info last spring (first season owning the boat) I replaced the both the drive shaft and shift cable bellows re assembling the the shift cable using merc manual 11 and the required tools. The bravo 2 that is original to my boat had delayed shifting into forward only when cold. Once in gear it had no problems. The delay would almost disappear once the drive was warmed up. Ran most of the season this way. Towards the end of last season I picked up a used bravo 1 of the same vintage. (B1 is much better suited for my 21 ft cuddy) After a pressure test I bolt it on. On my test run on the hose I noticed this drive to have the same issue as the b2 only in reverse. The only difference that the b1 didn't improve as it got warm. In both drives I used merc hp gear oil. I am not opposed to replacing the shift cable but if it were the cable would not both drive behave the same way? Btw I very much liked the way the boat performed with the b1 as opposed to the b2. I am sure a b3 would be even better. Thanks again for the help. Jray is there a what I can contact you regarding parts and information? Mike

Yea my number is 315 623 9583, if I dont answer just leave a message, email is [email protected]