I was out in the marsh the other day, in shallow water, about 6-8", when I noticed a rattling sound coming from the prop are. Sounded like it was hitting rocks or oyster shells. I trimmed it out of the water. Everything looked normal, but the sound continued. It stops when I put it in neutral. On the trailer, it gets better, but doesn't go away completely at higher rims in gear. I talked to Peck at PD. He said it sounded like the normal slack in the gears, and perhaps I was just noticing now. I'm not at all saying he's wrong, and I think it's probably normal, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't doing it before now, so I thought I'd ask. I haven't any close hard use, or hit anything.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Spence

Bearing above gear case may be going bad. That happened to me, all of a sudden one day the LU got noisy and it was the bearing. Had it changed and everything went quiet...

Could your cav plate be loose?

Cav plate-I don't think so, but I'll double check.

I ain't stupid but what/where do you mean " bearing above the gear case"?

is prop loose

Gear cas-Wouldn't that be unusual on a motor with only 22h? Not doubting, just asking.

Prop is tight.

I say gear case/gears/whatever you want to call it, but there is a bearing just above the gears. Does it only make the noise when clutch is engaged? The bad bearing may not be the case for you, but the way you're describing it sounds similar to what was wrong with mine..

I think will had to have his changed also...I think of you leave the reverse tension knob tight it'll wear on that bearing, could be wrong but I know you shouldn't leave the reverse knob too tight

its more than likely the gear lash, check your oil level. also the upper bearing needed to be greased every 50 hours or so. its a zerk fitting located on the port side the motors behind a 1/2 inch plug on the mid section. 2-3 pumps will do it.

the tension knob if left tight will prematurely wear the lower Teflon sleeve.

Thanks bb. Now I may be stupid, but... What toes that tension knob do anyway?

some times when going into reverse in the deeper water the lower unit will keep moving with the power head so the tension knob is there to hold tension on the lower unit so that the manual reverse will ratchet around. its not normally an issue in the shallows do to the mud holding the skeg. once your back in forward you should back off the tension on it. if you keep it greased well you really don't need it imo. I haven't used mine in years.

We're talking about that 2-3" knob on the lower unit right? I have auto reverse.
Any "experts" on/near the Northshore who could take a listen to it this weekend? Or is there anywhere I could take it nearby? As far as I know, the nearest place is in Houma for service on anything other than the mote itself.
Also, I greased everything with zerk fittings the other day, but on some of them, I could tell if any was going in bc none was coming out anywhere on the lower unit, etc. I know greasing the prop area/fitting worked bc some came out by the prop nut. Same thing with the joint between the foot (part that turns around) and the rest of the lower unit (stationary part) .

Wish I had someone to walk me through the routine maintenance. I'm actually pretty handy, but on this, I obviously don't have the knowledge.

Thanks.

Spence

Frog

mine rattles and makes noise... some do it some done... i would change the breakin gear oil and grease the top bearing good

check your heat shield on the exhaust?

How do I change the gear oil? I've greased the other part.
Heat shield is tight.

Goto the prodrive site and download the maintenance .pdf. It'll tell you what to do.

Thanks

I am experiencing the same thing on this motor. It has 16 hours on it. I bought it about a month ago new. Taking it to the dealer on Monday. Is it the concesus that this is norman?