Knocking sound from 1989 OMC 2.3 outdrive

[RMG1911]

I recently acquired a 1989 Renken 1700 Classic bowrider with a ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive for a couple hundred bucks. Motor runs fine after doing a tune up, but I have a knocking/grinding noise that seems to be coming from the outdrive when accelerating but once I plane out it stops, it also recently started randomly losing power when turning or under strain from wind or waves. My coworker said it's likely the gimbal bearing and to grease it. The shift cable is very hard to shift down to neutral from drive, which I read online may have something to do with the noise? How screwed am I? :faint2:

 

[southkogs]

No such thing as a gimbal bearing on that boat. That boat is running with ball gears in between the upper gear case and the intermediate - any clue as to how worn those ball gears are?

Does it grind at idle? And is your drive all the way down when operating?

Welcome aboard.

 

[Scott Danforth]

No such thing as a gimbal bearing on that boat. That boat is running with ball gears in between the upper gear case and the intermediate - any clue as to how worn those ball gears are?

Does it grind at idle? And is your drive all the way down when operating?

Welcome aboard.

'kogs, its a cobra, not a stringer

RMG, welcome aboard. check the gear oil level. however if its really low, you may have toasted the drive.

also, start reading on lower shift cable adjustments for the cobra drive. a bit more difficult than the Mercruiser, a whole lot more difficult than Volvo Penta.

also, your going to have to pull the drive to inspect the u-joints and gimble.

shame on you for not doing that stuff and other maintenance on your new to you boat.

 

[southkogs]

'kogs, its a cobra, not a stringer

:facepalm: Turned the 9 into a 0 in my head for some reason ... I'm off lately :faint2:

Thanks Scott. Sorry RMG.

 

[RMG1911]

LOL Shame on me indeed... This is my first boat I've owned and I work for a car dealer who also sells boats so I trusted my AUTO mechanic to do the initial maintenance but it wasn't until someone on the boat side of the business heard the noise at the lake and told me to grease it. My auto mechanic did change the gear oil when doing the initial maintenance, we also did the timing belt and a basic tune up on the motor. The grease made a huge difference and now the noise it almost gone.

As far as it being hard to shift from drive to neutral I am wondering if that could be because the Idle is set too high if the tach is right its idling around 900-1000rpm. It is only hard to shift to neutral when its running, if the motor is off it's smooth as silk. Could the idle be the issue instead of a cable adjustment? I have read up on the cable issue information provided on the forum and understand some of it but definitely something I don't feel confident monkeying around with on my own. Also is there an easy way for me to tell if someone has already done the cable fix from the bulletin?