[darkcalling]

Heck you guys think you have short summers with few boating days try being in my neck of the woods. lol

[Oregondunes]

in portland, we can usually get in a few days in March, the same for April, then a week or so in May and a couple in June. But when July-August hit, it's usually a non stop event only controlled by the cost of fuel and the thickness of your wallet. But this has sucked bad. A nice day before the 4th of July meant only NO rain. Colder overcast days with some sun breaks

[darkcalling]

I think we are all in the northwest getting that same kinda crap usually in BC can get the boat on the water end of April and leave it to Oct. of course pretty cool first and last month, the way this year is going will have to winterize end of August or eaarly Sept.

[love2boat]

Oregondune,

hey, we are from portland also, spend a lot of time on the Columbia, Lake Merwin and Prineville. Sorry to hear about your outdrive, bummer

[Oregondunes]

now that Ive got it all torn down to the ground, Im replacing just about every wear-albe there is. U-Joints, Billows, Gimble bearing, upper and lower seals and bearings. that way i can check it off my list for a couple of years.

[darkcalling]

Might as well like you say then your good for a couple atleast. If you don't mind letting me know what all you did and the cost when your done if this fin doesn't hold up I may just suck it up and by the color of the fluids I changed out I may just go for an x drive next so hp will be no issue later on lol.

[Oregondunes]

Found a couple of other issues that may have been earlier miscues. The bell housing is cracked, so there goes another $733. Gimble bearing and drive shaft u-joints were NEVER serviced, so there's another $150. Drive shaft looks newer and the bell housing looks original.

Those of you with larger (23+ footers) that have BBC power and bravo 3 drives. Do yourself a HUGE favor and have your drive removed and completely serviced this winter. Most of us have boats that are 10+ years old and the drive u-joints have probably never been lubed. failure can be catastrophic in financial terms. the cost should only be labor. 2.75 hours times shop rate, plus some grease. $225-250, add in the water pump impeller your bill should be around $400.

My best guess for me at this moment is around $2000.00, but it will all be fixed right and fresh as a daisy.

[darkcalling]

Yeah I crawled around my engine bay and found some grease fittings on that drive shaft but the only way to service those u joints I would bet is drop the out drive and pull it.

[darkcalling]

Oh while your on Oregon when I looked up the smart tabs they didn't show for over 25' boats did you just use the largest ones?

[Oregondunes]

Originally Posted by darkcalling

Yeah I crawled around my engine bay and found some grease fittings on that drive shaft but the only way to service those u joints I would bet is drop the out drive and pull it.

yep thats how it's done