my 27 PD has 35 hours on it and the lower unit has become more noisy lately. It was never quiet but it seems worse now.

When running the motor on the trailer, engage the clutch and it seems to shake and be pretty clunky. When i bring it up on the revs it will smooth out and not shake.

I'm suspecting a bearing problem, I checked the lower unit oil and it was pretty crappy looking, Changed it out.

I'm in Maine with no dealers around and I'm perfectly capable of doing a fix but don't want to tear into it if it's not necessary, BUT, now is the time to fix it while the weather is nice and the season is still a month away.

Any insight or advice...

What year is the motor? Possibly under warranty? Mine started doing the same thing, KP recommended pulling the prop off. I did, and the noise seemed to go away, so I went and had the prop balanced. Got the prop back, put it on and same noise. Lower unit is still under warranty, so I'm gonna pull it back off and send it in. Have one of the old style LU's that was eating seals, but it will get me by for a week or two while I wait on the new one to get back.

motor is a 2009 for a 20" transom. I'll call KP on Monday and talk to him about it.
I've noticed a loss of performance with it recently. It won't get the boat up on step at all anymore at all with 2 people in it and it's struggling to get up with just me and the dog in it.

Have a 2007 32 PD. Been almost everywhere and back until recently. Serviced regularly by dealer. During routine service about 1 yr ago, they found water in lower unit and changed fluid. No performance probs noticed before or immediately after. One month ago, noticed slower speed and ocassional problem getting on plane (did not suspect lower unit), then very next week, while running wide open, suddenly lost power/speed and heard grinding noice in lower unit. Turns out bearings gone and told need entire lower unit replacement (apparently PD redesigned the lower unit after 2007?). Has anyone had similar problem with PD, and/or know of the redesigned lower unit and its reliability compared to the old unit?

I talked to KP at Prodrive today and described my problems.

He suggested that the performance issue was motor related and gave me some things to look at. I checked it out and found that the screw and mount that sets the RPM was bent back and was keeping the motor from acheiving the proper RPM, I got it straightened out and adjusted my RPM top end back to 4300. Looks like this is something that I'll have to keep an eye on in the future.

I ordered a 2 blade prop to replace the 3 blade prop it came with. This is supposed to help with the hole shot but not do anything special for top end.
Hole shot is where It needs some help.

When I get the prop and put it on, I'll take it out for a test run.