mechanic needed in Fort Worth, Tx
 

Hello, I have a 30' open bow run about boat... unfortunately not high performance like most on this site. It has a single stock 502 with Bravo 3 outdrive.

My question is with stock motor & drive... can most marine businesses service / rebuild these adequately? My upper unit on the B3 drive has gone out (pulled cap and looks like upper gears). Also question maybe the coupler is bad.. as when I pulled drive, there looked to be long metal 'slivers' in the bellows area that looks like possibly splines (but splines on the drive shaft looked good).

When I first purchased the boat 2 yrs ago, I took it to a local dealer and had the upper unit resealed as I was told by previous owner that the upper seal may be leaking. It took them almost a month in the shop before they got around to it (tho it was July, possibly busy season.?) I'm hoping this drive failure is coincident as it has about 450 hrs on it and hopefully nothing to do with the previous service (40 hrs since in 2 summers).... But I would feel better taking somewhere that came with any recommendation rather than just hoping for the best. I could pull to Dallas or beyond, but would like to find a local mechanic that I can trust for this and then any future needs.

So, if anyone has a mechanic they'd recommendation in the Fort Worth area, it would be much appreciated. (sorry for what seems to be a long post for short question)

Thx

Also as a follow up question...

I was just cruising along 35 or so and suddenly felt like I hit something hard (like bottomed out in sand bottom or something), I immediately pulled back throttle and killed the motor.

I immediately looked at gauge and was in 25' of open water. After confirming that, I then looked in engine compartment and didn't see any smoke, fluids, smell, or anything. So I started the motor back up just fine (no noises at all) and then realized it wouldn't shift into fwd or rev. Jumped out and felt around drive to make sure props where there and couldn't feel any prop damage like I hit something.

Does a drive coupler failure typically fail at moderate speed?
Would a coupler failure typically also damage the upper drive in the process?
Or does an upper drive failure typically cause a drive coupler to fail also? (not sure coupler has failed, just have a concern do to metal slivers seen in bellows when drive was pulled)

Thx

I use Ralph at Nomad Marine by Eagle Mountain, it sounds like you grenaded the upper gears. If it were the coupler you would have smelt or seen burnt rubber. The shavings in the bellow could be from old carnage or gimbal bearing/ ujoint, basically the gears from the upper or the coupler cant pass thru the bellow area.
You would be better off to pull the drive and take over there vs having them r&r off the boat
It would also be cheaper to find a used drive

I cleared my PM box...

Sorry I'm new to this, so just for information sakes... your saying when a coupler fails, it's typically fails in the rubber surroundings and not the splines them self. Correct? The slivers I thought may have been pulled thru with the gimble bearing when drive removed as they were somewhat on the bearing face (tho not a lot). Thinking when I had the drive serviced last time.. Surely they would have cleaned up the area before replacing the drive. but it didn't look like it as there was a lot of older dried looking grease around the bearing that has obviously been there for some time. Another reason I'm wanting to learn to do what I can... and then find someone trust worthy for the things I can't.

I do have the drive off and would prefer to take it somewhere to save even a couple bucks in labor.

Thanks for the input... will check out Nomad Marine.

I'd give Victory Marine a call, they're really good with the bravo series outdrives and they're also very fair on price. They're down Dickinson, TX just south of Houston. Ask for Scott.

Call John P at the Bravo Shop he's at LOTO...

Do you know what ratio you drive is/was?? I may be able to help...

It's marked 2.0
Is the ratio totally in the upper unit.. bottom unit.. or a combination of the two?

It's been mentioned above that a used unit might be more cost affective than repair. If anybody has a spare upper unit that would work on 2.0 ratio, feel free to let me know or pm me.

Thanks all you above for the quick recommendations. Based on couple of them, I took it in this afternoon to a local shop for evaluation and will see what they say.. and will keep the other recommendations for reference if this shop doesn't work out.

Based on conversation with the shop, I suspect my coupler may also be damaged as the motor would start afterward and shift to fwd and rev without any noise (the upper unit appears to be locked up), so will probably have to have that done also as I don't think pulling the motor is something I could do in the street.

I've been on this site and have read hundreds of posts thru the various forum sections as I've been redoing this boat a little at a time for past two years. This is my first post and just want to say thanks for all the responses and recommendations.