Sure wish I'd seen this last year. The knuckleheads that store my boat pulled the drive off and said it was ruined. They pulled the other drive also, and said it had water in it!!! They wanted about $30k for two new drives!!! I called a Mercruiser dealer and took both drives to them for rebuild. It was much cheaper doing that, but had we seen this video, we might have saved even more money.
The Mercruiser manual says to glass bead the cone clutch. Also if the outdrive has any time on it in most cases the correct shift cable adjustments were not followed correctly. I've been building Bravos since 1984 (yes 2 years before they were in retail production) The poor gear face surfaces are generally caused when the needle bearings in the gears have in excess of .025 space between them. New they measure .016. Mercruiser doesn't sell this bearing but just replace it with a Koyo B-3214 needle bearing and it will get your backlashes close to factory original specs
Very interesting video,?I’m dealing with this problem right now. How long would the shop take to replace the clutch? I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth trying this trick, or if it’s better to just pay the $500 and avoid having to do it twice.
Man, I wish I saw this video a few months ago when i had my drives off! I have the classic forward shift delay on one of my Bravo 3's and i have been trying to figure out if the cone clutch is bad or not. Looks like I may need to do a short haul and try to fix it. (100th Subscriber, woot!)
Hi thanks for your video! I hope my English is correct, I am writing from Italy. I had problems engaging forward gear twice in 2 months and the mechanic replaced the clutch with a new one! I want to try to repair it myself, but I have doubts, could it be the very heavy steel propellers that quickly damage the clutch and cones? Could it improve with aluminum propellers? They advised me to use Quick Silver Gear Lube "racing" oil and to install a water jet on the upper part of the foot because at high speed it is out of the water and my rib takes water for cooling from the hull and not from the foot . I heard someone who used abrasive paper but no one used grease mix valve grinding, have you already had good results? Thanks for your reply, Gianluca
Hello and thanks for your question! I have used the method shown in this video many times, all with successful and lasting results. If you would like to do this yourself, I would recommend you get the MerCruiser Service Manual - it will be money well spent. You will need the wrench to get the u-joint assembly retainer nut off and back on again, a 1/2" torque wrench, and the stand that holds the gear/clutch assembly on a benchtop. It helps to have the tool to remove and install the shift rod, but you can use a machine screw that fits the threads. Start with a service manual and become familiar with the job and necessary special tools. The valve lapping compound is the only way to go, I would not attempt to use sandpaper. Good luck!
Thanks for the video and explanation, I'm currently having an issue like this on my Bravo drive, though in my case the drive shifts easily into reverse and neutral but not to forward, that's where I get a delay and if I rev the engine up just a little it "snaps" the gear in quite forcefully. Sometimes it can take up to like 5 seconds for it to into forward with the engine idling.. Do you still think it might be the cone-clutch and the cone-surfaces that might be "polished" or worn in this case or do you think it might be something else?
What you're experiencing is the classic symptom of what this video is about, so yes. Also, in my experience, it is always the forward engagement that has the delay, and that is because typically, you shift from neutral to forward more often causing it to glaze over before the reverse gear does. Some folks will try to adjust the shift and that does nothing to help the actual problem and will make things worse. There is a specific shift adjustment procedure and once it is set it is not to be messed with.
@@TheZambie1 Thank you very much for the reply! Alright, so it seems to be like I feared.. Yes I had my hopes on some simple problem and was about to look into the shift "wiring" but you're probably right. Right now I have the drive detached and in the garage, and if I manually push and pull on the shift lever I can hear the clutch engage both ways so the next step will be to get the special tool to remove the drive-shaft etc.. I would've tried to hire you for the job, but since I'm in Sweden that might be difficult :)
Just an update after I applied this fix on my Bravo 1 drive. I does work so far, I've only been using the boat for maybe 2 hours runtime since but it shifts perfectly again. Thanks again for this vid.
This was very informative. Thank you
Great vid bro
That’s a great repair video for do it yourselfers thanks I appreciate it
Very interesting and helpful tip.
Greetings from germany!
Sure wish I'd seen this last year. The knuckleheads that store my boat pulled the drive off and said it was ruined. They pulled the other drive also, and said it had water in it!!! They wanted about $30k for two new drives!!! I called a Mercruiser dealer and took both drives to them for rebuild. It was much cheaper doing that, but had we seen this video, we might have saved even more money.
The Mercruiser manual says to glass bead the cone clutch. Also if the outdrive has any time on it in most cases the correct shift cable adjustments were not followed correctly.
I've been building Bravos since 1984 (yes 2 years before they were in retail production) The poor gear face surfaces are generally caused when the needle bearings in the gears have in excess of .025 space between them. New they measure .016.
Mercruiser doesn't sell this bearing but just replace it with a Koyo B-3214 needle bearing and it will get your backlashes close to factory original specs
Delayed shifting is not enough preload shim on case. The top and bottom shims for the driven gears.
Very interesting video,?I’m dealing with this problem right now. How long would the shop take to replace the clutch? I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth trying this trick, or if it’s better to just pay the $500 and avoid having to do it twice.
Do I need any extra parts after tearing it apart to put it back together seals,gaskets etc.?
Man, I wish I saw this video a few months ago when i had my drives off! I have the classic forward shift delay on one of my Bravo 3's and i have been trying to figure out if the cone clutch is bad or not. Looks like I may need to do a short haul and try to fix it. (100th Subscriber, woot!)
Sweet! Thanks!
Hi thanks for your video! I hope my English is correct, I am writing from Italy. I had problems engaging forward gear twice in 2 months and the mechanic replaced the clutch with a new one! I want to try to repair it myself, but I have doubts, could it be the very heavy steel propellers that quickly damage the clutch and cones? Could it improve with aluminum propellers? They advised me to use Quick Silver Gear Lube "racing" oil and to install a water jet on the upper part of the foot because at high speed it is out of the water and my rib takes water for cooling from the hull and not from the foot . I heard someone who used abrasive paper but no one used grease mix valve grinding, have you already had good results? Thanks for your reply, Gianluca
Hello and thanks for your question! I have used the method shown in this video many times, all with successful and lasting results. If you would like to do this yourself, I would recommend you get the MerCruiser Service Manual - it will be money well spent. You will need the wrench to get the u-joint assembly retainer nut off and back on again, a 1/2" torque wrench, and the stand that holds the gear/clutch assembly on a benchtop. It helps to have the tool to remove and install the shift rod, but you can use a machine screw that fits the threads. Start with a service manual and become familiar with the job and necessary special tools. The valve lapping compound is the only way to go, I would not attempt to use sandpaper. Good luck!
Thanks for the video and explanation, I'm currently having an issue like this on my Bravo drive, though in my case the drive shifts easily into reverse and neutral but not to forward, that's where I get a delay and if I rev the engine up just a little it "snaps" the gear in quite forcefully. Sometimes it can take up to like 5 seconds for it to into forward with the engine idling.. Do you still think it might be the cone-clutch and the cone-surfaces that might be "polished" or worn in this case or do you think it might be something else?
What you're experiencing is the classic symptom of what this video is about, so yes. Also, in my experience, it is always the forward engagement that has the delay, and that is because typically, you shift from neutral to forward more often causing it to glaze over before the reverse gear does. Some folks will try to adjust the shift and that does nothing to help the actual problem and will make things worse. There is a specific shift adjustment procedure and once it is set it is not to be messed with.
@@TheZambie1 Thank you very much for the reply! Alright, so it seems to be like I feared.. Yes I had my hopes on some simple problem and was about to look into the shift "wiring" but you're probably right. Right now I have the drive detached and in the garage, and if I manually push and pull on the shift lever I can hear the clutch engage both ways so the next step will be to get the special tool to remove the drive-shaft etc..
I would've tried to hire you for the job, but since I'm in Sweden that might be difficult :)
@@7rille7 Var det kopplingen som var glaserad?
@@martinwangerud8489 Glömde uppdatera efter renoveringen, men ja, detta löste problemet för mig än så länge.
Just an update after I applied this fix on my Bravo 1 drive. I does work so far, I've only been using the boat for maybe 2 hours runtime since but it shifts perfectly again. Thanks again for this vid.
Mark bark!
Is this bravo 2?
Those are B3s. But all Bravos use the same upper (driveshaft housing) and principal. Just the lowers change from B1, B2, and B3.