Bravo Speedo Peedo

Howdy all,

This is driving me nuts. I have a plugged pitot in my Bravo III lower gear case.

It's supposed to be an easy fix. The service manual suggests using a wire to un-plug it then using a 5/64" drill bit to drill out the obstruction. They also caution not drilling deeper than 2 7/16"

The problem is that I can push a piece of welding rod almost 4" into the tube and according to my measurements that's not quite to the vertical tube that goes up to the adapter.

I cannot get air to go into nor can I suck any air out of the tube. (yes I tried to suck on the front of the drive....NO JOKES PLEASE!!)


I used a piece of stainless steel welding rod and I even tapped on the rod with a hammer what I thought was hard enough to break any small stones etc and it was hard enough to bend the rod. It didn't budge the obstruction though.

It also appears that there no water tube seal in the lower either. I don't have the lower removed but I'm sure I'll need to replace it.

If it's really not there then I suppose someone may have had this drive apart at some time and because the pitot was so thoroughly plugged they didn't bother to put the seal back in.


It's not the end of the world.....I have an external pitot I can put on the back but the Bravo has it built in .....I'd like to use it.......Or, do they all plug up and do people just give up and not use them?


I really don't want to pull the lower just to fix this thing. Although according to Manual 11 page 3D-24 I'd have to in order to replace the seal.


Anyone got an easy fix?



Thanks,



Rick

Re: Bravo Speedo Peedo

How about Compressed Air,...... From the Top, Down......

Re: Bravo Speedo Peedo

I tried that but there's no easy way to get a good seal from the top. and all I could get is about 125psi........ I do have a new adapter so I can damage the old one and not worry about it....

I am thinking about getting a longer bit and just trying to drill the rest of the way to the vertical tube......It's only about another 1/4"

Both passages were probably drilled on a CNC mill when the lower was manufactured.

It's amazing that this thing is plugged this tight!

I even took the stainless steel welding rod piece and sharpened the end into a flat edge and turned it with a drill and all it did was flatten sharp edge! THat indicates that it's pushing up against a rather hard stone.....

Hey! Maybe there's a diamond in there! It's probably a piece of silica or something......Man! This is a real PITA!

I would sure like this thing to work! I wanted to be able to remove the old external pitot.

Bond-o said:

How about Compressed Air,...... From the Top, Down......

Click to expand...