Drives "clunk" into gear
 

Hi Guys, my bravo drives make a pretty resounding clunk going into forward gear. They clunk less going into reverse. Idle is about 500 rpm. A friend told me that there are some sort of springs in the top of the drive that get weak and cause this hard thump. Is this true? Any comments? BTW, I've had drives off of this boat and others for u-joint replacement, alignment, etc, but have never torn a drive down before.

check the torque on the two top bolts on the gimbal ring,if you grab the bottom of the drive and pull up,you should be able to see if there loosing up.....if there loose try retourqing them to 80 ft lbs.....thats usually were the clunk is.....

Offshore, OK, I'll check into that. Are the bolts accessible with the drive installed. Having trouble picturing these bolts in my mind (at work right now).

yes they are,at the top of the gimbal ring

Isn't the tiller shaft U bolt sapposed to be torqued to 50 ft lbs???

I was thinking 55 ft-lbs. Is it a bravo1 drive?

BT :cool:

clunking in gear
 

i tighted mine to 55 on left engine took slack away. tightened rt drive still loose went to 70 ft lbs last winter, the end of this summer it broke both gimbals were it was bolted through so be careful. it cost me 4k to have both gimbals ,upper steer shafts,boots replaced . now i ck them every winter to make sure they are at 55lbs when there loose they ruin alot of parts.

Hey Johnny, are you referring to the same bolts Offshore was telling me about? Got me nervous now.:confused:

BTW, yes, the drives are bravo ones - 1989.