93 bravo 2 noise in upper case

[stang32]

this is a 93 5.7 with bravo 2 set up, the u joints and gimbal bearing and oil were repalced and there is a niose in the upper case, not sure if it was there prior to replacing u joiunts but it sounds like marbles bouncing around, the sound picks up with engine speed, in reading other posts i found mention of clutch cone bouncing around and it being common, i do not believe this is the case, the noise is very prominent over the sound of the exhaust, although not heard in the boat . this is all with the boat out of the water, run on muffs. the noise kind of sounds like an alpha 1 with an improperly adjusted shift cable where the prop is partially engaged. but yet the prop on this bravo spins freely(neutral) with the boat running and the noise is definetly in the top . any help is greatly appreciated

ok, a little update, i found that when the drive is turned to the right , the noise deminishes a bit.​

 

[stang32]

here is a video of the drive being turned left and right

 

[stang32]

another video of the drive noise

 

[tpenfield]

Maybe use a mechanics stethoscope to isolate the source of the noise to either the gear case or the bell housing. Does the outdrive shift into and out of gear (forward and reverse) OK?

 

[stang32]

i used the scope, the noise is promenant in the upper case, it reverberates in the helmet but definetly fro mthe upper . yes it shift into gears ok

 

[tpenfield]

You could see if slight movement of the shift cable (shifter) changes the noise. That may indicate if the clutch is slightly engaging.

otherwise it could be a bearing. You may have to take the upper apart to chase that down.

 

[alldodge]

Take the top cap off of it, you'll loose a bit of gear lube but no biggy. It will go right back on easy

 

[aerobat]

had a similar ( not that severe ) noise on my b3 . pulled the driveshaft , resetted the pinion preload to specs ( was too loose ) and torqued the retainernut to specs ( was also too loose ) and the rattling went away . when you pull the driveshaft you have a good visual on the gears and the shaftbearings .

 

[stang32]

thanks guys, all good input

 

[dubs283]

Sounds to me like a u-joint knock, but I'm not there. I'm watching a video

The cone clutch does not just bounce around, that would cause a serious issue. The cone shifting process is basically two surfaces mating via friction, force and gear lube. There are no teeth like an alpha clutch set up

I would pull the drive and inspect the recent u-joint replacement

 

[stang32]

Sounds to me like a u-joint knock, but I'm not there. I'm watching a video

The cone clutch does not just bounce around, that would cause a serious issue. The cone shifting process is basically two surfaces mating via friction, force and gear lube. There are no teeth like an alpha clutch set up

I would pull the drive and inspect the recent u-joint replacement

the joints are new and the drive was pulled and reinspected by myself and another tech, what do you suspect could be wrong with a u joint install? it was one of the 1st things i thought it sounded like but as i said i used a pipe to listen for noise and it is definetly coming from the upper case and not the helmet

 

[dubs283]

what do you suspect could be wrong with a u joint install?

you never mentioned pulling the drive and inspecting the u-joint replacement work and said you weren't sure if the noise was there before

just going on the information provided

did you also inspect the gimbal bearing? do you know it was installed correctly and aligned after install?

if that all checks okay i would drain some lube from the drive and pull the top cap and rear cover from the driveshaft housing and inspect the gears, clutch and shifting assy

 

[stang32]

yeah, sorry, thought i mentioned that, the u jopints are new, installed tuesday, after the noise was heard, i pulled the drive and rechecked the shaft area, all is good, the gimbal bearing was replaced last week and the alignment is good, never had an outdrive slip together so easy.

 

[stang32]

the boat is back in the water for the time being. i will address this further when it comes out. it seems to be fine in the water but i know the noise is there, lurking, waiting

 

[alldodge]

Not trying to push you into doing something, but it would take 5 minutes to pull then top cap (4 cap screws) to have a look. There is a thin needle bearing under the cap.

 

[stang32]

i know andi appreciate the input, the boat is in the water now. once it is out, that is the 1st thing i will do and update this post, thanks

 

[stang32]

so, the boat was out for 7 hours in total, at one point it was put in neutral for a bit, then back in gear when the boat went nowhere. there was just a whirling sound. no banging, no thud, no clunk.
once back on land(seatow) i pulled the top cap and fron cover, everything looks good in there, although with the cap off, there is excessive play in the upper bearing but i presume that is because the cap has a built in race that sits inside the bearing. with the drive in gear(engine off) i could spin the prop with effort but is spun. i found the coupler is shot. looking in the engine bay, i cna see the driveshaft spin while the engine is off and someone turn the prop. so, i need to replace the coupler. my big concern is this.
when i replaced the gimbal bearing and u joints, i checked the alignment and it was nice. not much drag at all on the tool. and the drive practically fell into the gimbal helmet it was that easy.
the coupler body is really rusty so ,ok, maybe it is all coincidental but that noise i was hearing, and recorded definetly sounded like it was in the upper case. the last thing i want is to do all this work replacing the coupler then put it back together to have the drive damage the new coupler.
could there be something in the drive that would have caused the coupler to go prematurely?
could the coupler being on its last leg make that noise?

 

[alldodge]

My opinion is your coupler was going out so this is why the alignment appeared dead on, and the drive slipped on easy. Once the coupler is back on, you will surely find the motor mounts need to be adjusted to fit

 

[stang32]

My opinion is your coupler was going out so this is why the alignment appeared dead on, and the drive slipped on easy. Once the coupler is back on, you will surely find the motor mounts need to be adjusted to fit

yeah, well thats a given. but could the coupler have been causing the noise and why woudl it run fine for a full day them crap the bed?

 

[alldodge]

Don't know about the noise, but may discover the why during repair.
The center spline teeth could be chewed up some, and the coupler can do fine for some time before it just goes. My second boat (Signa) many years ago I had someone else do the transom and alignment. Ran the boat for a week before the coupler gave up. When the coupler was replaced, I noticed they adjusted the front mounts down about an inch. When questioned, they did say, yes it wasn't aligned correctly the first time.