Pulling my Bravo outdrive for the first time, can't get it past the first 1/8". Figured I better find out if there is a trick before I break out the "Big" pry bars.

my trick... take a 2x4 and place on top of the drive ( between gimbel ring and drive then pull up on drive hard...in 25 yrs haven't had one I couldnt remove even with bad stringers, if having that hard of a time first check that the shift cable is dis engaged though, and check engine alinment after you do remove it !!!!!

Works for me!!

Don't forget the speedo tube. Dang thing seems to always be the last thing to get unhooked.......while your holding the drive in the air.

true but wont stop the drive from comming off...

My 1st experience, many yrs ago, was helping a friend pull his alpha to replace his gimble bearing. Dang thing was stuck. We used pry bars to get it off. Then used a block of wood and a sledge hammer to drive the outdrive back on. This was before I knew anything about engine alignment. Now that I look back, I think it was off a 'little'. Might explain why the bearing was wiped out. On the positive side, it wasn't my boat and it was still running 3 yrs later when he sold it.
Shade tree mechanics at it's best.

Lmao,

mental picture


sorry

When I pull my B3 it always helps to make sure you are pulling the drive straight out. If on the trailer I drop the tongue jack as far down as I can then see how much luck I have. If that doesn't workand you're a good sized guy you can manually swing the drive up and put a 2x4 or 2x2 on face as far up between the drive and the gimbal ring as you can. You can then somewhat drop the drive and use that force to begin to pull it apart. Make sure you grease the $hit out of the spline when you put it back together so you don't have this problem the next time you pull it. Don't forget to pull the shift cable...

interesting last year had same problem with a bravo even took to certified merc mechanic ended up cutting the coupler pulled engine to replace coupler and spline slid out when I turned it over
Reinstalled motor alignment was perfect put on new drive still dont know what cause the problem and neither does the Merc guy

Things get pretty tight between the spline, u-joints and the gimbal assembly, wouldn't take much of a bent shaft, busted u-joint or poorly aligned engine to give some interference.

Try this: Make sure the drive is in nuetral, remove the coil wire and try cranking the motor over while hammering the drive back. If the there is any interference rotating the shaft/coupler by turning over the motor could show that. You can do the same thing with the drive in gear and turning the props after removing spark plugs to remove compression, unless you're He-Man.