Hi Guys, hoping maybe someone has had a similar issue and a bit of knowledge on my issue. The boat is a 2000 Sea Ray Sundeck 210 with a 5.0 Mercruiser. About 700 hours. It has an Alpha One Gen 2 outdrive. I had a low grinding noise, not super loud, but noticeable. Figured it was the gimbal bearing. It was the original unit, and original u-joints. Pulled the Bearing, put a new one in (Cheap Chinese Amazon product). One of the O-rings on the shaft that rides in the gimbal bearing was missing when I pulled the drive. U-joints felt good, so I left them in place. Put the drive back on, boat in the water, and had bad knocking from the u-joints on full turn. Old gimbal bearing felt bad when it was in the outdrive, but now that it is out, feels like it is still good. New one feels good in the drive and is aligned. I then replaced the U-joints with Sierra Joints. Boat had no noise at all on muffs, but once in the water, at idle/low RPM, no noise at full turn until I put it under load with full turns, then the knocking came back. Pulled the drive and was missing an O-Ring again. Replaced the O-ring, and drive, same thing. Long drive, several hours at low RPM, no issues, even at full turn. First few turns under load were ok, but then the knocking again. I'm thinking maybe the cheap Gimbal bearing might be causing me to destroy the O-rings when under load, then without the O-ring, the U-joints start making noise. The cheap gimbal bearing went in fine, easy to align, and seems to spin freely at the bearing. It is a greasable type, and has been greased. What am I missing? Is it possible just replacing the gimbal bearing with a sierra or Quicksilver unit might solve my issue? Thoughts? Thanks in advance for the ideas/experience.
