Bravo gear oil resevoir

[Will Fish]

S helping a friend replacing gimbal bearing, bellows, shift cable, etc. Its a bravo 3x on a 25' Parker w a yanmar 260 turbo diesel. The plastic fitting for the gear oil tube was so porous that when touched it crumbled. So now a simple maintenance jib turned into a big headache.is this a common problem? How can this get fixed? Does this fitting just pull right out? There has to be some attachment on the inside of the boat, which I cannot see? Does the motor have to be pulled? Any info would be helpful?

 

[ENSIGN]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

Theres a metal cir clip holding that fitting into the inside transom housing.It's a royal PITA to remove and install.Normally a thin screwdriver will pop it off and I usually tie a piece of fishing line to the clip on installing it for when it falls in the bilge.Good luck,Ted

 

[Will Fish]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

In trying to trace tHe oil line from the reservoir bottle to the transom (barely able to reach it) the plastic fitting broke on the line. Now I don't know what to do. It was not a metal clip, but another cheaply made plastic fitting and clip. I think I have no choice but to pull the motor in order to access everything. Any suggestions?

 

[dubs283]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

pulling the motor would be fine, sometimes depending on boat design you may not have a choice

i have never had to pull a motor to do it, but i can get into some pretty tight places too

the entire fitting is plastic with a few o-rings for sealing, the e-clip is on the inside of the gimbal housing and can be difficult to reach, even see - i find a 90 degree pick tool works the best for removal and a small (or long) needlenose pliers for install, depending on access

 

[Don S]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

I've run into diesel powered boats using the Bravo drive usually need to have the engine pulled to access that sorry plastic fitting. Merc used to make them out of brass. The didn't break, and lasted forever. But they cost too much. The retail price of the plastic part is around $6.50 the last time I looked. They are just as bad on the Alpha I Gen II drives. If you try to remove the bellhousing for bellows replacement, it breaks the fitting off.

Just another one of those fun things Mercruiser thought was cool for getting work for the dealers.
Put it with the list of things like:

Plastic fitting for gear lube monitor (Engine pull in many cases)
Cool fuel system behind the left front motor mount. It included the fuel pump and regulator. (Engine pull in many cases)
New engine mounted raw water pump. Must remove from engine to replace impeller. (Engine pull in many cases)
Fancy drain system that prevents you from verifying if things are drained properly (Engine replace if something is plugged)

 

[Will Fish]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

the entire fitting is plastic with a few o-rings for sealing, the e-clip is on the inside of the gimbal housing and can be difficult to reach, even see - i find a 90 degree pick tool works the best for removal and a small (or long) needlenose pliers for install, depending on access

when you say inside the gimbal housing, are you talking about from inside the boat or from outside, next to the sleeve where the bellows clamps too? If its on the outside of the boat, there is a ring on the new part that looks like a clip would fit into.

 

[Will Fish]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

I've run into diesel powered boats using the Bravo drive usually need to have the engine pulled to access that sorry plastic fitting. Merc used to make them out of brass. The didn't break, and lasted forever. But they cost too much. The retail price of the plastic part is around $6.50 the last time I looked. They are just as bad on the Alpha I Gen II drives. If you try to remove the bellhousing for bellows replacement, it breaks the fitting off.

Since it seems like I am going to have to pull the motor (a little leary on doing this since this motor is all computers), is there an aftermarket brass part I can get so I won't have to do this for a while?

 

[Don S]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

There are no aftermarket replacements at all that I am aware of. The early Bravo's did have brass fittings. Below is a drawing and parts list that shows the brass ones (1-5) and the plastic ones (6-10).
Problem is, I don't know if the brass are available anymore, or even if they will fit in place of the plastic ones. But here are the part numbers if you want to give them a try.

 

[Will Fish]

Re: Bravo gear oil resevoir

Thanks Don. 6 and 10 are what snapped. I cannot see 10, but only feel for it with the motor in. Definately seems like the motor's gotta come out as I can barely get 1 finger on it.