Bravo III Cracked Bell Housing

[budnikasr]

Like to get a second opinion. It's not the issue of paying for replacing and just looking for piece of mind. During winterizing, the mechanic noticed a hairline crack in the bell housing on my port engine. What eventual additional damage could be caused? Problem is that when we bought the boat, it never came up during the survey. We don't know how long it's been there so I am concerned it may have damaged other things. Mechanic said it could wait until spring to replace it. He said it will take a while to get a new one.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Robert

 

[Fun Times]

Have any photos of the crack?

 

[budnikasr]

Not my unit, but the redline indicates the exact spot of the crack. It's about 4 inches long.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy Robert

Kind of weird to have a crack in that area, there is next to no load there IMO. If it was mine I would see about finding a aluminum welder and see what he/she thinks. It is an area that just covers the boots. As for finding one, that is not an issue, there all over the place. Just wait until it's time to replace the boots again

 

[budnikasr]

Thanks all dodge. appreciate the advice.

 

[bgunn100]

Was winterizing a boat the other day with a Bravo 3, had a crack in about the same place on the bell housing. The customer had no idea how it happened. His gimbal ring is severely worn too.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I'd weld something like that in a heartbeat. Or replace it without a care in the world. Not a big deal. That's an $800 ish new part, if on inspection all that was wrong was a crack - tig welder time.

Rick

 

[Fun Times]

Was winterizing a boat the other day with a Bravo 3, had a crack in about the same place on the bell housing. The customer had no idea how it happened. His gimbal ring is severely worn too.

What did you recommend to him as for a repair? If needed? Thanks for posting.

 

[tpenfield]

My thoughts are that if the out drive were raised and something got caught in that area, it could cause a crack. Little to no impact to the operation of the out drive though. Definitely a weld could fix it. . . Might not even have to remove it.

 

[thumpar]

Have you seen pictures or seen it in person. I am not saying he is wrong but it wouldn't be the first time something like this has come up and wasn't correct. See if you can get pics to post. If if really is cracked the weld repair would be my first thought. Anybody that does props should be able to fix it up.