Drive noise when in gear
 

Had my boat in a marina over the weekend, went to leave the dock yesterday and had a growling noise and vibration in forward or reverse. It is a fairly new XR drive, I put it in neutral and prop free spins nicely and no noise in the drive. I got towed to launch because and looking at it on the tailer no visual issues, what could my problem be? Could the issue be in the coupler and not the drive? Any help or process in diagnosing? I know its a tough description of the issue, gonna drain the drive and inspect for any metal or pieces of anything. Drive probably has 20 hours on it. Thanks in advance for any help!

put a socket on the top cap bolts to see it they came loose..ik have seen it on many standard bravo drives..

I did look at that and one was completely looseand backed out a bit, the others were tight. Could one loose cause that to happen? The one that came loose was the one that holds the drive shower in place, it walked itself out pretty far.

Whenever mine would develop a growl, it was generally due to gear coming apart and the trash getting into and ruining the bearings.

I had some noise it turned out to be a gimbal bearing going bad, drives were fine.

I'm gonna pull the oil tonight and check for access metal/shavings. If oil looks clean then I will pull the drive and check the bimbal bearing, how will i know if gimbal is going bad? Turn it with my finger and see if its gritty or turns hard? Have never changed a gimbal before. Thanks again and sorry for being so ignorant with drives lol.

I don't know I thought I had a messed up u-joint and I had the marina pull the drives and they said the u-joints were perfect so they said it must be the gimbal bearings and that solved the noise. I didn't see it myself. I'm sure somebody here has hands on experience and will chime in.

drain it,,pull the top cap and make sure you dont loose any shims or the oring..spin the input shaft and look close at the gears for pits..and yes the gimbal bearing will feel gritty or it will feel stiff.

Pulled caps and found what looks like case material? Only drained about a quart from plug so pulled the drive and bellows was full of oil, pinion seal must be bad.Gimbal bearing was smooth and turned as it should, gears look "ok" but not sure where this material is coming from- see pics. this drive has been rebuilt before and not sure if the pitting/gouges in cap and tower are from previous damage? Also looking at the vertical drive gear, has a red buildup of something, was this welded or somwthing? Hard to see in the pics

i would take it back to the guy that went through it...looks like the edge of the gears are coming off..