Bravo One Gear Lube Leak

[Water Rat]

Seeking the help of the very knowledgeable forum before I put a gun to my head. Due to a combination of bad weather and business schedule, I finally have my boat ready to go in the water for the first time and find the following problem.

Boat is a '78 23 Sceptre with a MerCruiser 7.4 litre Bravo One (repowered in 1990). All service to go back in the water is complete and immediately after raising the outdrive in preparation to have the boat launched I notice gear lube leaking from the bell housing/gimbal ring area.

The Bravo One drive has a separate gear lube oil reservoir inside the boat. The reservoir has a hose going from it to a fitting on the inside of the transom plate; on the other side of the transom plate (the outside) there is another hose then going from a fitting to the drive itself. It appears this hose is the culprit and is leaking; problem is I can't find an obvious hole or chafe point and best guess is the hose may have been abraded by chafing against the worm gear screw on the hose clamp securing the U-Joint bellows.

My question is this, assuming I am correct in diagnosing the problem, just how difficult is it to replace this hose? To my untrained eye, it would appear to require removal of the drive and bell housing to have access to the end fittings. Though there are a couple of good Merc shops around, I don't know if I can stand the wait; I'm so desperate at this point I'm going down to the yard just to sit in the boat and pretend I'm in the water.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/consolation.
Chris

[lost2a6]

Chris, My TRS drive has this same set up. I believe that you should be able to trim the drive all of the way up and get to the hose. You might have to remove your exhaust bellow first. It is no big deal even if you do have to remove the drive and then remove both of the bellows. If your bellows are more than two years old then it's time to replace them anyway.

[Water Rat]

Lost,

Thank you very much for the reply and you are correct. However, I did not do the work but got a call from the yard today telling me they had already taken care of it and did not have to remove the drive or bell housing. My mechanic must be a former OB/GYN; I was told he used forceps to get the hose onto the fitting in the inner reaches of the transom assembly.

On another note, love your boat. I may be mistaken, but think I saw it when I visited Wildfire Marine a couple of years ago.

Thanks again,
Chris

[lost2a6]

Chris, thanks, I'm glad that you got it fixed. I drool over your boat as well. I especially like your hard top. Yes my boat was at Wildfire Marine a couple of years ago.
Steve