Hey do any of you guys do your own maintenance on the outdrive?
I was thinking of pulling my drive to check u-joints and seals , hoses and stuff .. It is running fine now but I like to stay on top of stuff.
Have any of you guys done this job?

Preventive Maintenance

Ever heard this?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I don't mean that you should not do maintenance, but stick to what the factory manual suggest you should do and you will be happy for a long time...

Well I have been real lucky with this boat.
And hey man you cant talk over there in the land of fresh water only :-)
I have never replace anything in the outdrive and would like to make sure that I dont ignore the inspection part of the process.
I am searching to see if anyone posted a "simple" guide to bravo1 R&R on the site

I pull my drives and store them inside every winter. At the same time I inspect hoses, bellows, cables etc. The u-joints are supposed to be greased once a year also. If you have to replace hoses or bellows you will want to buy the special tools to make life much easier and their not much money. Mine is an 89 with over 600 hrs and the engines and drives look and perform like new. If it aint broke it's going to. Don't go by me though because my motto is if it aint broke dick with it until it is.

Your method is closer to mine ... Have you any tips for pulling the Bravo 1's with the least amount of hastle ?

I built a couple of stands out of 1" square tubing and I use the trailer jack to raise or lower the drive height to fit my stands. They come off very easy, just don't forget to open the shift cable clamp once you get the drive out about an inch or so.

Be ready to find other stuff that needs attention like all the bolts you are going to break off in the process of "preventive maintenence". I think I have busted off 6 bolts so far. Its so fun drilling out and retapping!

Cool stuff :-)
I have a engine stand and cherry picker so I wont have a problem holding it once it is off.
Well wont be this weekend .. Maybe next .. Anyone seen a bravo1 howto floating around .. I have the book but sometime we come up with more creative shortcuts than the "book" around here :-)

Are you using stainless or just regular hardware? I've never broken an outdrive stud on my boat or anyones I've serviced.

I am replacing with stainless. The hardware that has broken were stainless bolts. Of course I might not know how to losen bolts like a professional. Lefty tighty right loosy, right?