Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

Hi There,

As some of you may know/recall, a couple weeks ago we "found" something in the lake. The certified Mercruiser dealer that repaired her said the outdrive had suffered no internal damage. We picked her up Saturday, the repairs being complete, and took her over to another place, by water, for custom canvas work. I passed where I needed to go on the river, so I just made a tight loop back. I noticed that with the wheel hard over, I was hearing a "clicking" noise from the outdrive. It went away after bringing the wheel back two turns or so, I'd say. This was an anti-clockwise turn at somewhere between idle and 1000 RPM. The outdrive was all the way down.

Now we haven't had this boat for very long, but I know I'd made some tight turns like that at low speed before and I don't recall ever hearing that noise. I used to street race, back in the day, so I wrenched on cars all the time and am pretty sensitive to out-of-the-ordinary sounds, vibrations, etc., as a rule, so I imagine I would've noticed it.

So, what is likely causing that noise, is it a problem or is it normal, and, if not normal and if it is a problem, is it possibly a result of either the grounding incident or subsequent repair work? (They had to remove the entire lower unit for the skeg repair.)

Thanks,
Jim

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

No comment? Any suggestions on where else I might ask this question to get some input?

Thanks,
Jim

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

Hey ,
most likely it is your gimble bearing or universal Joints. When you turn your out-drive you are placing strain on those components and that is why you here that noise and or vibration. I would have a MerCruiser dealer look over your drive unit. Good luck to you

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

No vibration, just the noise. It actually took me a few moments to notice it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before our grounding incident.

The question is: Can hitting something with the prop hard enough to spin it cause damage to the gimbal bearing or universal joints? I thought the idea behind those "shear hubs" was to protect the internals in such a case.

Thing is: In the process of the repair they inspected all the internals for damage and declared everything good. Guess I'm going to have to talk to them about it.

Thanks for the follow-up.

Jim

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

Hey Jim, Most shops dont go that deep in to the the drive shaft housing. When ever they go that deep into repairs the should replace gimble bearing and at the least review your u-joints, most of the labbor is into removing the out drive. Engine alignment can also add to prmature failure of the drive shaft and engine coupler if your MerCrusier dealership performed any removal of the housing they may not have aligned your drive correctly.
Just a thought.

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

They removed the lower unit and sent it out to have a new skeg welded on. They reported they examined all the internals and said everything was good.

Jim

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

Mine makes a similar 'clicking' noise if i crank over in a hard turn but other than that, its fine. My marine mechanic suggested the same things as rooperdan did and advised me not to worry about it until i had another reason to remove the outdrive & he would check them closely at that point.

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

sometimes you just have to have a little patience... ;)

Re: Outdrive "Click"ing?
 

Yeah, I know :p. Sorry for the impatience. This one-issue-after-another thing is getting old.

Talked to the place that did the repair today. Asked him if it was possible that their mechanic missed something and whether or not he thought it was possible that the grounding resulted in damage that would result in whatever's causing the noise. He was noncommittal, saying to bring her by after the canvas work was done and they'd take a look & listen.

It seems awfully coincidental that the noise showed up just after the grounding and repair, but I suppose it's possible the drive was on the way to either the gimbal bearing or u-joint(s) being worn to the point this would show up. But if that is the case, I would have thought they'd have checked it out during the other repair work, while everything was already was all apart, and let me know other work needed to be done.

Boy, if this turns out to be a repair we're going to have to pay for, we're going to have a problem :(.

Jim

Good News!
 

The "clicking" turned out to be nothing!

As I was taking her back over to the repair place, yesterday, at low speed (was at idle), I turned the helm hard over in both directions and heard the noise. But it now it sounded more like something vibrating, then a "clicking" sound. We tied her up good at the repair place's dock and the mechanic checked it out. He was able to replicate the noise by putting her in gear and turning the helm hard over. Then he goes "Do you have a swim ladder under the swim platform?" Yes, we do. He reached under there and moved it around a bit and, like magic, the noise went away. So all it was, in the end, was the swim ladder rattling a bit from the drive trying to move the back-end of the boat sideways or from the turbulence created by the drive when the helm was hard over. :shakehead:

So everything's fixed and she's running fine. And we have beautiful new canvas! :D.

All is well with the world. :)

Jim