Hello everyone,

One of my outdrives makes a kind of grinding sound when it's put into gear. It's hard to explain so I made a couple recordings.

http://unreal.mcknet.com:8100/special/drives_3.m4a
http://unreal.mcknet.com:8100/special/drives_4.m4a

The drive in question is the port drive. The stbd drive makes almost no sound at all when it is in gear. The recording was taken while sitting idle in calm water. When the drives are shifted into and out of gear, you can hear a very, very different sound when comparing the two.

These are Bravo-One MerCruiser drives.

I can't say that I've noticed a performance problem, but I worry that the sound might be indicative of something going very wrong.

If you would, please listen to the recording and let me know what you think the problem might be. I have zero experience with drive units and could use any help you guys might be able to offer.

Thanks to you all in advance,
-Michael

It sounds like the drive is not fully engaged. Do you feel a vibration? Might want to have the linkage looked at and set shift points again. Just an opinion

I don't notice a vibration. When I put it in and out of gear, the shift feels solid. There's no "grinding of gears" sound during the shift, but that whirring/scraping sound once it's engaged.

Is there a way to tell if it's fully engaged or not? The shift handle on the console moves solidly from neutral to fwd and rev with a single solid "click".

Thanks!

It sounded a bit like mine, they adjusted shift linkage and the sound went away. Other than that I don't know other than you have some gears grinding. Recommend you dump out gear oil and see if any bits of metal are in it.

Also the lever can be fully engaged but the shift position on top of motor can be out of adjustment.

there is a very specific cable adjustment procedure for bravo's and if it gets, off bad things can happen...I would start there

I had same thing late summer, it was the Gimble Bearing, when engine hatch is open it can be heard very loudly in the engine area, a rubbing, scrubbing noise like nothing I had ever heard, and it started suddenly, not like a new noise that got progressively worse, it was easy to replace and I installed a new bellows also since the drive was off.