Bravo III clutch problem

[eztiger12]

Boat details:

Chaparral 29, 2005
Twin 5.0L Mercs
Bravo III stern drive
Low hours

At first the port side drive had a delay engaging into drive/reverse up to the point where it did not engage at all.

The boat was inspected and repaired by the dealer, here it is........
Was told that the engaging clutch was seized together for reasons unknown (the boat is babied and never abused).

A few thousand dollars later the boat is repaired and runs well but when engaging the port side it will make a clunking sound like the older Bravo III.

Informed the dealer but they mention that it's normal, it never made that sound before......starboard side is very quiet.

Is anyone familiar with Bravo III's and could anyone shed light on why this happened in the first place?

Did search on the site but came up with nothing.......I'm sure someone ran into this problem before me....

It was thought that the bravo III after 2004 were much quieter when engaging than the earlier bravo III so Merc could compete with Volvo. Is this statement true ....is there a difference between pre and post 2004 bravo III's.


Last one.......Is there anything I can check myself to resolve the engaging noise?

The question is being asked for a friend of mine.

Thanks to all

 

[hard-3]

Re: Bravo III clutch problem

does engine rpm start to increase before shifting into gear? if so this would indicate shifter cable wear problems. what happens is as you go into forward the engine rpm goes up before the sliding gears engage causing grinding jumping noise. Does it engage into reverse ok? if not then that usually points to the lower cable.