New tick coming from outdrive

[Swnova]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the forum and recreational boating. It looks like these forums are a wealth of knowledge that’s I’m hoping to tap into!

Over the winter, I purchased a 22 foot trophy walk around powered by a 4.3l mercruiser. For the first 6 trips, the boat ran awesome without a problem. On the way in on my 7th trip, a tick noise started and it appeared to be coming from the outdrive. I made it back to shore and I had both forward and reverse gears all the way.

I got the boat trailered, and took a quick look at the outdrive and prop when I noticed the following:

when i shift into forward gear, prop will ratchet one and and lock the other way. When I shift into reverse, prop will ratchet the opposite way of forward, but doesn’t lock when turned in opposite direction. It spins freely.

Could this be related to my ticking noise? Any thought what could be making the noise?

thanks!

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome aboard

with any new to you boat, remember, the guy that sold you the boat didnt do any maintenance for years

first order of business with your boat

• pull the drive
  • do a bellows kit
  • check the gimbal bearing
  • check the alignment
  • check the u-joints
• split the drive and install new raw water pump assembly
• re-install drive
• add gear oil
• change engine oil and filter
• change plugs
• inspect cap/rotor/wires
• clean every battery cable connection from the battery to the block, starter and solenoids. by clean, shiny enough your mother would eat off them clean.
• pull exhaust elbows, inspect gaskets (replace as needed), inspect rubber hoses and flappers
• re-pack trailer wheel bearings
• inspect trailer winch and rope
• service the trailer brakes.

the dog clutch ratcheting is normal

most likely you are either hearing the drive eating itself from low oil, or the u-joints thrashing around from lack of grease or the gimbal bearing may be bad, or the motor has been over heated and the flappers are shot.

so, get a factory Mercruiser manual for the motor and one for the drive and start doing the maintenance

you will find the problem

also, there are 6 major generation changes of 4.3 motors. Just saying 4.3 means nothing other than you have a V6. at a minimum, you have to specify a year. and some years may be cross over, so best to specify serial number. same goes with the drive.

 

[Benny67]

Before you tear this boat apart looking for the problem, confirm your shift cable is not hanging up or sticky.

You start tearing out all these parts without a bit of detective work first and you might make the problem harder to find.

 

[Swnova]

Thanks for the replies guys, it is a 2004, but I’ll have to get the serial number off it when I get home.

I did have the boat at the mechanics last year for winterization and an inspection. They mentioned the gimbal bearing and u joints could be changed but said it wasn’t pressing.

I dont believe it would be eating itself as they changed to drive oil last year and the reservoir is still full.

First thing Im going to do is check the shifter cable. I’ll let you know what I find.

Swnova

 

[Scott Danforth]

if sediment in the reservoir is on the bottom, it plugs the tube to the drive. many times the drive could be empty and the reservoir still full.

I would be pulling the drive first, then firing the motor up and if the tick is still there, you just cut your work in half to look for it.

 

[Benny67]

First thing Im going to do is check the shifter cable. I’ll let you know what I find.

Before flying off the handle it's always good to check the simple things first. Good luck, I hope. It's something simple.