growly SE116 gen ii

[hystat]

I put a 116 upper on my Gen II V6 1.8? ratio last fall before storing the boat and noticed a bit of a growl, more pronounced after a longish run. Seems to almost disappear in neutral, noticeable at idle in gear and at slow plane. ran it about 15 hours thinking it might just need breaking in.
Can't really detect at WOT due to other noise/ wind etc.

The front end of the upper felt hot to me when running back and feeling it just off plane. I added a drive shower just because I had one here.
Changed gear lube - looks fine. some "fur" on lower magnet - nothing serious considering break in of upper.

Last week I changed the gimbal bearing and checked the alignment. Alignment was off a touch, now perfect. Old gimbal bearing felt smooth, but I put a new one in anyway.

First run- fairly silent. Second outing - there's the growl on slow cruise. it's back.

I took the lid off the upper expecting to find an issue, but gears and top bearing look great. I can wobble the vertical shaft a fair bit, but figure this is normal without the support of the top cover bearing.

So my options now -
1. tear into the lower - although propshaft turns smooth as silk and lube always clear.

2. ignore it...

Any suggestions how to proceed? About 25 hours on the upper now.

 

[DaveG55]

My buddy replaced his drive with an SE uniit 2 springs ago. He is now on his 3rd one. The first two started quiet but quickly developed a growl that just as quickly turned into a howl. This one seems to be doing great so far and he has even repowered form a 5.0 to a 5.7 engine.
SE told him this drive has "stronger gears" whatever that means...
In short, Id contact SE and take advantage of the warranty. They are VERY good about honoring their warranty!