What do I check on a new outdrive shakedown run?

I was doing a routine inspection on my old alpha one gen I outdrive last week, and it ended up being filled with water. It also had a bent prop shaft and bent prop hub.

I bought a reman alpha one gen I outdrive with the same gear ratio off ebay, and I bought a 4 blade solas amita aluminum prop. I finished installing the drive and prop tonight, and I ops checked it. I ran it on earmuffs for a while, checked shift functionality, engine cooling, visually inspected vibration, etc... Afterward I pulled the drive's lower oil drainplug and checked for water. It was full of beautiful blue gear oil.

I'm going to do a shakedown run on the drive tomorrow afternoon on the river. What sort of things should I check for? The same stuff I did tonight? Should I do a break in period? Can I go WOT on a brand new drive? I'm really curious about my new top speed. THis new prop is much better, and since it isn't bent, it shouldn't cavitate so much at high rpm.

THis was my first time really working on a boats drive system. I followed the merc service manual step-by-step. I'm a pretty good auto mechanic, so I mostly trust my work, but not 100% yet.

Re: What do I check on a new outdrive shakedown run?

New or remanned ,you should still do the normal breakin. go easy on the throttle, vary the rpm, shift between the gears. change the oil after 20 hrs.

Re: What do I check on a new outdrive shakedown run?

Break in for me would be 20 min. keep an eye on your temp!!
I have a 92 glastron 2nd gen and mine rattles a little when i'm idleing into the marina, mostly left turns for some reason and we just replaced a frozen gimble. When you had the whole outdrive off did you reach in and turn your gimble bearing?

Re: What do I check on a new outdrive shakedown run?

Bt Doctur said:

New or remanned ,you should still do the normal breakin. go easy on the throttle, vary the rpm, shift between the gears. change the oil after 20 hrs.

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kinda like a new engine;; that's good advice!

Re: What do I check on a new outdrive shakedown run?

Bt Doctur said:

New or remanned ,you should still do the normal breakin. go easy on the throttle, vary the rpm, shift between the gears. change the oil after 20 hrs.

Click to expand...

Will do. Do I need to do the break-in procedure for the full 20 hours, or just for the first hour or so?

ohioriverat said:

Break in for me would be 20 min. keep an eye on your temp!!
I have a 92 glastron 2nd gen and mine rattles a little when i'm idleing into the marina, mostly left turns for some reason and we just replaced a frozen gimble. When you had the whole outdrive off did you reach in and turn your gimble bearing?

Click to expand...

I checked the gimbal bearing. It was nice and lubricated, and it didn't have any signs of rust or water on it.
I stuck my hand in the hole and turned it. It required just a small amount of force to get it moving, but overall I'd say it had minimal resistance. Is the gimbal bearing supposed to be 100% resistance free like a turbocharger ball bearing, or should it have a little bit of resistance to it?

If it should completely glide, then I need a new one.