ok so just replacing my drain plug on the bilge and when i took the 3 screws out a single steel ball bearing came rolling out where would it have came from?

Boat is 1990 checkmate 251 convincor
drive is a bravo 1
engine is 7.4

i know it didnt come from the engine could it be the gimble ? I didnt notice any crazy noises last time it was out

What diameter?

Maybe out of the throttles

I'm no expert, I had to start a thread for help when the gimbal bearing fell apart on my boat. It seems the gimbal has to have a major failure for ball bearings to actually get out. Mine was pretty close to that. If you don't have external (hydraulic) steering, I think there would be a fair bit of slack in the drive if the gimbal has come apart.
A couple of pics of the ball bearings from mine, sorry I don't have measurements. It's an '07 Bravo One X.




RR

Thanks guess ill pull the drive I do have external hydraulic steering

I'd wait until someone can identify the ball bearings by size. Looks about right to me but I'd hate you to pull the drive off for no reason. (Plenty of people here who will know the size exactly, I'm just not one of them!)

RR

I’m always losing my marbles. Glad to see that I’m not the only one.