2005 VP outdrive vibration increasing

[320Busdriver]

I have an 05 Volvo Penta 5.0GXI/SX in my Four Winns that I've owned since 2015. Just hit 500 total hours..Seems that vibration that used to happen only with steering at L/R limits is now evident even before reaching limits and seems to be getting worse. I suspect ujoints or gimbal bearing maybe both and want to check to see if maybe water has entered the bellows. Boat is on lift in water so may be tricky to check bellows without getting it back on trailer. Found prior owner receipt showing R&R gimbal bearing, bellows and trim sending unit from 2012. Now I've also noticed that trim guage fluctuates some while operating trim which is a new issue for me. My mechanic says I should be able to inspect the bellows myself and that its possible to see water in the boat or in the gear oil if the bellows is shot. Any advice on diagnosing the issue is appreciated as well as best practices when repairing this type of problem including ways to save money, if there are any. Trying to minimize the loss of use as summer is more than 1/2 gone here in WI. I plan to let my mechanic handle pulling the drive and doing repairs if it comes to that... thanks

 

[320Busdriver]

Update: today I was able to inspect the bellows while on the lift and I did not find any evidence of cracks or holes so I think there is probably no water in there. I did run the engine with the drive fully trimmed down in the water and in neutral and found that the vibration only occurs when the wheel is turned to the right starting with the last few degrees of steering travel and is quite noisy. Turning to the left there was no noticeable vibe or noise regardless of travel.

Is this still likely a u- joint problem or is it possible there is something else going on here?

 

[wahlejim]

When was the last time the drive was off to check everything and grease the gimbal/u-joints?

Based on what you are describing, it sounds like the gimbal is going bad. U-joints may be getting some slop in them too.

Has the the boat ever been run with the drive above the trim limit?

 

[320Busdriver]

I paid to do a pre purchase inspection in early 2015 when I was told they pulled the drive and checked the alignment. Don't know what else they might have done though regarding the ujoints. I have a really good tech that I trust who winterizes the boat and does the fluids in the fall and I am guessing I will be looking at an expensive repair in Sept if not earlier. Will look to replace ujoints rather than whole shaft assy, gimbal, and boot. To my knowledge the boat has not been operated with the LU trimmed too high. The fact that the noise and vibe only occurs with steering to one side baffles me though.

 

[Maxb1990]

Can anyone tell me why my volvo aq125 with volvo 270 outdrive.the bellhousing from the outside of the boat has a clip then 2 seals back to back then the bearing. From what ive reasearched theres only one seal on the inside and one on the outside mine has 2 on the outside

 

[320Busdriver]

I visited the Marina through who I purchased the boat yesterday and inquired how much they would charge to repair the ujoints. Their response was that at most 500$ in labor and the ujoint replacement kit was just under 500$. Is the parts cost high? From what I've seen online it is high?

I still plan on using my boat mechanic for this, but I wanted to get another quote.

 

[Bt Doctur]

get a second opinion, dont really need the "volvo" u joints. other manufactures make a quality replacement part

 

[billbayliner]

Ok... First thing I ALWAYS ask on vibration issues on the DP drives.... WHETHER it is AQ series or the DP-SM series is what condition are your props in???

It seems I ALWAYS get the reply that they are in good shape... Then I ask for a picture... 99% of the time there is a chip, or deflections, or just pain out damage...

Break a TINY chip in a room fan and see the vibration... Try and keep that thing from falling... Point taken?

As for the U/J's.... Volvo does not sell the individual U/J's for your drive. Only the whole assembly.. Actually in my opinion, the only thing that is a deal in the parts chain..... Problem is, a Layman CANNOT change the assembly as it take a tear down of the drive gear bearing assembly and thus all the equipment AND knowledge is needed to re-assemble and set the bearing pre-loads....

There is are two options.... One is look at props and see if there are flaws... DP props need little damage to transfer vibrations....

Option 2 for Layman is to replace U/J's and not complete assembly... There are 2 guys on Ebay selling the proper GKN U/J's for these drives that do not take a complete tear down of the drive gear assembly.... They also sell for the AQ series but with those drives it still takes a tear down to complete a 2 U/J replacement,,,

Will also work on the SX-A and DPS-A drives from the part numbers provided.

 

[320Busdriver]

Boats back in the water and was out for only 2 days. My tech found one of 2 spiders was failing substantially, prob only 5 hours before it would have let go. Replaced both with aftermarket spiders on a gnk shaft assy. Gimbal, alignment, bellows all a-ok. Previous owner replaced bellows and gimbal in 2013. Probably water had entered at that time and the u/j were compromised. Picture of spiders here.
https://flic.kr/p/28WVnhU

 

[skydiveD30571]

Nice find and fix. By the way, pulling the drive and inspecting the bellows/ujoints and greasing everything up is yearly maintenance, not just when something breaks. It could save you big repairs in the future.