Coupler bad

"I have a 1998 Bravo outdrive.

"I have a 1998 Bravo outdrive. I took it to the dealer, because I wanted the u joints changed. They found a little water in the Bellows and said the bearing was starting to rust. The ujoints had little to no rust on them nor the shaft. They also said the coupler was about to go any day. I only have 220 hours on the boat. It was making a little noise when we trimmed it up all of the way when we would dock on the beach going very slow in shallow water. My question is how did they know it was going bad by looking at it? How can I determine that it's going bad?

Thanks
pt"

"The "male" u-joint sp

"The "male" u-joint spline and the "female" engine coupler are basically inverted and normal V shapes respectively...if worn, the bottom of the V's become rounded or worn off. This leaves less surface area on each piece to transfer torque from the engine to the drive...once these wear to the point that they slip past each other, you are dead in the water.

To tell if they are are worn, the profiles of each piece should be close to the same...if the triangular shape of the coupler is much "shorter" than the spline, change the coupler out....

I know this unfortunately, as I bought my first boat and told the wife I didn't need to wrench on it...when the outdrive was pulled, the coupler was shot at 290 hours...$1,000 at the shop to pull the engine & replace before the boat even got home...not a good conversation...

JR"

"when you are beaching or runn

"when you are beaching or running in shallow water are you using the trailer button or trim up? the trim up should be used for shallow running and not the trailer button as the trim up has a limit switch (could be set improperly) that prevents full-up movement of the drive ( not a good idea to run at full up ) as damamge to gimbal bearing, u-joints and coupler will be stressed"

Jeff The Dealer said that the

Jeff The Dealer said that the coupler teeth were getting sharp and needed to be replaced. I looked at them last night. They did look a little pointy. I'll have to look at the shaft tonight.

Brian I think a do use the trim button. I get paranoid about running the prop into the buttom. Get coasting though. The dealer adjusted the trim limits. They said that it was off 2 inches. It came that way from the factory. Could that have messed the coupler up?

tough to say could be any one

tough to say could be any one or a combination of things

improper or deteriorated engine mounts or alignment
binding or failed u-joints or gimbal bearing
running engine extensively trimmed up and or trimmed to high

"Ayuh,... Or a Lack of Grease.

"Ayuh,... Or a Lack of Grease.....

The Tops of both the coupler splines,+ the driveshaft splines should be Dead Flat, about 3/32" worth...

Pointy is Bad..."

They said it looks like it had

They said it looks like it had grease. I think the shaft was flat and the coupler was more pointy. What is an average life of the coupler for average use?