Re: Slippage under load
Bondo, I certainly can't edumacate you...

Your knowledge is far greater than mine......I'm not sure what (if any) difference there is between drives that say "888" on them as opposed to "R",MR, or Model 1, other than the castings look different from the outside.......I have seen in the past that the drives with the "888" designation fail when installed behind a Chevy 350 (260 H.P.).....It may have been that these drives had problems to begin with, but ran fine coupled to engines that ran with less H.P. & W.O.T......It's just from
my personal observations that they didn't fare well....I haven't dealt with hundreds or thousands of them so I might be wrong...

So, if I am wrong, I stand corrected.....Boatrider, you should have a look at your bellows before you install a new drive & put it in the water....If you had the water intrusion into your drive for an extended period, your gimbal bearing is probably bad.....If you looked at the link Bondo posted, you will see that there is likely more to be done than just throw a new drive on...Once you take the drive off you will ned to inspect the parts that Don S. has mentioned...If you can post a pic with the drive off, it would be helpful....Your engine runs well....I still can't believe that your boat moved any faster than idle!

You are in the right place to seek help if you are truly a "DIY"...Good Luck & welcome to the "wonderful world of boating

.....JK