Reply With Quotei have an alpha one and got a maintainance manual at west marine it also included the bravo drive too.It has abreakdown of recomended service intervals as far as greasing bearings,oil changes etc,
Just picked up my first outdrive boat. It has a Bravo 1 on it. Where can I get a maint. manual for it???Or what does the maint. consist of.....??Any help would be appreciated....Thanks Ed
i have an alpha one and got a maintainance manual at west marine it also included the bravo drive too.It has abreakdown of recomended service intervals as far as greasing bearings,oil changes etc,
Grease the u-joints and splines.Drive must be removed to accomplish this.
Change drive oil 1 or 2 times a year depending on amount of use.
The bravo 1 is a very low maintenance drive unless your running big horsepower ... then its a different story.
Be sure to check the engine and drive alignment. Check the engine hold down bolts and make sure thy are tight. If they come loose the engine drive alignment will be off and you will ruin the drive coupler.
I have maintained my own stern drives for over 19 years. My recommendation (for what it is worth)is not to bother with the Haynes or Sealoc manuals that you can get at the local boat store. There is absolutely no substitute for the factory manual if you plan to really maintain the boat yourself. I bought the manual for my twin 502 Mag MPI engines with Bravo 1 drives and it is tremendously helpful. I also bought the shop manual and parts list/fische for my old boat's OMC King Cobra. It really helps you to understand the specifics of your year's design and a lot of little things that the generic manuals don't tell you.
I have included the link below to the Mercruiser site where you can buy the factory manual.
https://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/...k/pubsform.asp
Boiled down, you want to change the engine and drive oil at the same time. Depending on the engine I would do it more often than Mercruiser recommends. My 502s would get very dirty after only 35-40 hours so I changed it every 40 hours. Mercruiser recommends 100 hours.
I used Mobil 1 15w50 oil for the engine and the Mercruiser High Performance gear oil for the drive. The Manual will show the process and tools (Par Oil Pump and Gear Oil Pump) required. Also recommended annually is removal of the drive to grease the U-Joints, alignment of the engine, and most important change the sea water pump impeller. It is usually best to change the impeller just before the season starts so it does not dry out over the winter. The sea water pump is belt driven by the engine, and should be on the starboard side.
For winterization the manual will show all of the hoses and drain plugs to remove and drain, and I always put a gallon or so of Propylene Glycol (non toxic anti freeze) in the engine because I live in Northern California where it sometimes gets cold enough to freeze an engine block. If you live in socal, or central or southern Arizona you are probably cool doing nothing, but I hate to leave water sitting in the engine with no circulation all winter (personally). I am pretty sure that all insurance policies exclude damage from freezes.
[ September 25, 2003, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: Dr. Eagle ]
Good advice above about fluid changes. One more important requirement...
There are two 90 degree grease zerk fittings on the coupler. The coupler is the part that bolts to the flywheel and has a splined shaft receptor for the outdrive input shaft. If you look at the rear of the engine where the stern drive shaft connects to the engine you'll see the zerks, they are 180 degrees apart. Use Mercury 2-4-C lubricant for this application.
A buddy of mine that has no idea about maintenance had 250 hours on his boat when the coupler self destructed, cost $1800 for the repair. The engine has to be pulled to replace the part.
Maintenance Schedule
[ September 26, 2003, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: rrrr ]
Good point! I forgot that very important maintenance item, and I also forgot to mention the grease zerk on the power steering ram if you do not have external aftermarket steering. You need to grease that every 50 hours or so. Same thing 2-4-C lube.
[ September 26, 2003, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Dr. Eagle ]
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