Slight growl from Penta DP-SM drive

[Lupus]

Hallo,

I have noticed a slight growl from my drive when in neutral. However when I apply forward or reverse gear it stops and no noise is detected. Can anyone tell me if I should consider water intrusion in the bellow (immediate action required) or most likely just a bad gimbal bearing that needs replacement in 2-3 months when I make my winter storage. My boat remains in water until October so I will not have access to removing the drive to check unless I bring her up. What would you guys recommend ? - Thanks for feed back.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Slight growl from Penta DP-SM drive

I believe this is normal. Mine does the same thing. When the upper gears are not loaded they will make this noise.

 

[Don S]

Re: Slight growl from Penta DP-SM drive

When was the last time the bellows was replaced, and how long since the drive was actually removed to inspect things?

 

[Lupus]

Re: Slight growl from Penta DP-SM drive

In fact the two bellows was changed April 2008.

At that time I had the gimbal bearing/ seal changed as well but I realized during the work that my mechanic (being a VOLVO guy though!) had difficulties pushing the drive in place (after reading several threads this last winter I found that this means the alignment is not correct!). I had no noise last summer and put 40 hours to it.

This spring I had the drive off again to lubricate and check for water. All looked good ... beside the alignment which was off. Anyway after inspecting the u-joint I did not notice any damage to the teeths going into the coupler and the u-joint itself still looked good with no tolerances. I had the alignment corrected by the proper tool and put all back in place. However hereafter I had the slight growl when the gear is not engaged. I am wondering if the bearing (even I could not feel it during my inspection this spring) may have been damaged a little last year due to the wrong alignment and therefore now is a bit loose and causing the growl.