Bravo 3 grinding.

[agallant80]

Took my new Bayliner 255CR out today. First time putting it in the water. First I have to say going from an alpha to a bravo III is a huge HUGE improvement. With that said I noticed the drive sounded like it was grinding when I turned, there was some vibration too. It seamed to be worse when I was turning right but that could be because I sit on the right side of the boat when I turned left it was still there. At first I thought it had something to do with the trim tabs but after some playing around I noticed that it had to do with how much the outdrive was trimmed. On the gauge it was worst at 1/8 trim going lower I did not notice it as much. At 4000 RPM it was bad lower RPM it was more quiet. I did a google search and read a few threads about people having a grinding noise coming out of their Bravo 3, replacing gimble, u-joints etc with no better results. Is this normal? Does the drive just do this when turning?

 

[QC]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

Would you consider it more of a rattle/rumble than a grinding sound? If so it does seem like you are describing U-joint noise.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

You could call it a rumble

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

It is the u-joints . . . they don't like to turn very hard with power applied, or with the trim up either. Since your boat is brandy new, I doubt that you have any drive component issues.

You will just want to be aware and avoid things that cause the noise. If you think it is really problematic, you have your new boat warranty to utilize.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

So what happens if a ujoint fails underway. Does it just break and you replace it or does it cause a tonne of damage to other things?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

Never had one 'break' . . . Typically they get really noisey first, so you have good warning. Your boat is new, so probably not close to breaking. Any concerns would worth having the dealer check it out.

my outdrive would tend to make the grinding noise when I went into a hard turn under power . . . Like when you are turning around to pick up a fallen wake boarder or tuber.

If your boat is making noise only at the extremes of turning, then probably not an issue. If it is making noise at slight or moderate turning, then probably worth having the dealer take care of it.

 

[QC]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

Agree with above. I would not expect to hear it much when moderately trimmed and going straight though.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Bravo 3 grinding.

You will hear things differently with your new boat than with your old boat. When I bought my boat, I also thought I had u-joint issues as it had more rumble as I turned. Turned out it was just the design of the boat amplifying the noise that is typically always there. My current boat has all fiberglass floors where my old boat had wood floors. You may be seeing the same issue.