Reinstalling a Bravo III?

[JeffM]

Hi Everyone,

When my mechanic was winterizing our boat, he removed the outdrive to replace the universals. He just reinstalled the drive last week, but there's no sign that he entered the boat -- no door in the shrink wrap and no evidence he cut and repaired the wrap. The way the wrap has been installed, it doesn't look as though he could have squeezed under the edge, either.

Doesn't one need to access the engine bay to reinstall the drive? The fluid reservoir is on the front of the engine...wouldn't he at least need to verify the fluid level once he's done filling it?

Thanks for your help!

 

[my3sons]

It is not neccessary to have to get onboard to install the drive. Be sure to check the "IV" bottle of drive fluid though in the spring. There are in-line valves in the lubricant line where the connection is made between the drive and transom assembly. When pulling off or putting on the drive only a very small amount of oil is lost before the flow is stopped by the valves.(think quick disconnect fittings)
THere should be no noticable loss of lubricant when you check it. The drive itself is filled with lubricant before it is installed. After you run the boat a little you may notice that the bottle may need to be topped off slightly, as the drive will usually accept a little more oil from the bottle.
Just a thought, you may want to dump out the oil that is in the bottle and refill with new when you get a chance BEFORE running the motor. No point in having a pint of old oil mix with the new stuff your mechanic just put in your drive. (assuming you had the oil changed) take care

 

[SeaRay]

Yes, there is a check valve there so you really don't loose any oil.

The only reason he would have had to get in there was if he needed to realign the engine coupler to the drive shaft.

I just removed the drive unit on my Bravo 3 to grease the U-Joints and I did have to do a little tweaking to the engine mounts to realign it better with the drive unit.

But, my boats is 10 years old (I have owned it for three) and I bet that is the first time it has ever been off.

 

[JeffM]

Thanks for the responses, guys! I didn't know about the check valves -- that's reassuring.

Changing the oil in the reservoir sounds like a prudent precaution, too, once the shrinkwrap comes off. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[skolbe]

Did they check alignment while the drive was off? If they did confirm that it was good.

 

[JeffM]

I didn't ask them to, but they might have. I'll have to check; thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Go Aweigh2452]

I didn't ask them to, but they might have. I'll have to check; thanks for the suggestion!

It is standard procedure to check alignment... simple... no reason on earth not to check it while the outdrive is off...

 

[skolbe]

It is standard procedure to check alignment... simple... no reason on earth not to check it while the outdrive is off...

I agree, to me alignment and greasing the coupler are more critical than changing the drive lube.