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which outdrive has issues

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milkie62

New member
I have been out of boating since 1989.Went to OMC cobra school in 1987 so I have some outdrive experience.I am looking at a nice 1996 boat with a volvo penta cobra sx outdrive and 7.4 liter engine.I heard that a certain outdrive had some sort of lift cylinder issues and was expensive to repair.Anybody hear of this ? Thanks in advance, Ed
 
Volvo Penta shot themselves in the foot when they re-tooled for the Gimbal system drives.
The V/P SX cone clutch drive shows up in 1994 with the purchase of the OMC company.

The good Volvo Penta stuff is the last of the Non-Gimbal system AQ series drives of the mid 90's.... of which were still produced along side of the SX and DP-S drives.


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So late 90's to current volvo has issues ? Like I said I have been out of the loop for 25 yrs or so.Some nice boats with low pricing could be because the drive unit is a lemon I assume.
 
milkie62 said:
1.... So late 90's to current volvo has issues ?


2.... Some nice boats with low pricing could be because the drive unit is a lemon I assume.
Click to expand...

1... Perhaps more so with the Gimbal System drives that began in 1994.

See your similar thread in the Mercruiser section forum.


2.... Hard to say.

The boats with the Merc A drives may not be as desireable as those with the Bravo drives.
Boats with OMC drives are not as desireable.
Boats with Volvo Penta drives are typically more desireable, and may bring a bit more money.



Keep in mind that the AQ series drives ran right along side of the SX and DP-S gimbal system drives through 1996 (in the gasoline engine line)...... and into year 2000 with the diesel engines.

The AQ seires is the Good Stuff!


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RicardoMarine said:
1...

The AQ seires is the Good Stuff!

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Click to expand...

Still running an AQ280 (circa 80s) on my boat.... Repairs to date... New universals, new seal on input shaft (thanks Rick!) and on shift rocker shaft, new bearing on steering pivot (intermediate housing). Thru leg water pickup converted to thru hull due to local conditions... ( Barnegat Bay and its many opportunities to "polish your prop".... especially while fishing). Thru hull pickup reduces grit fed to raw water pump.

I once had a 1970 25 Ft Bertram w/MERCS.... Side by side, the difference in quality and simplicity of design of the Volvos is very noticeable. Was in the process of pulling the MERCs and replacing w/280s when I had to sell the boat (divorce). In leg water pump a major turn off for me...especially since you can't remove it and replace w/ an on engine pump... ( drive needs the cooling water flow to survive).

Handling... Was trained, while maneuvering in close quarters, especially in a fast boat, to "tap..tap" the clutch to control boat speed and position. Not fun in an Alpha drive. Easy and quiet to do in an AQ series drive. BTW... tune up tip for AQ drive shifter mechanism.
Add small OD thin stainless washer(s), between the fitting on the end of the shift cable and the Volvo drive mechanism to remove any side to side slop. Just be careful that the washer diameter is not larger than the lever on the drive thereby interfering with the mechanism when shifting into forward. Makes shift points more "defined"... especially with single lever controls... OK too much coffee this morning :)
 
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I began with Mercury and Mercruiser powered boats.
I even started working on the Mercs as my first Marine side-line business years ago.
It did not require much of an introduction for me to see the vast differences in quality and the ease of maintenace, let alone ease of repair work between the two.

Seeing the well designed main suspension fork/pivot tube geometry, and the fixed PDS geometry differences, sold me on the Volvo Penta AQ series drives.


Sure.... all drives eventually have issues. Some more so than others, and issues in different areas.
Each has it's own weak areas, and each has it's own strong areas.

I don't care who we are, and/or who says what.... the Dog Clutch is a poor system even on the best of days.
Engaging dog teeth and again to separate dog teeth is rather silly in 1990.
Wait a minute.... it's year 2014. :rolleyes:

Once you realize the advantage of the cone clutch gear engagement and the type of AQ series drive suspension......., there's no going back. I'll even go so far as saying that the Merc purists have very likely never before owned an AQ series Volvo Penta stern drive.


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Rick, As you know, the Merc people liked the cone clutch system so much they copied it long ago with the Bravo. Then the M/C followers liked it so much they said it was the next best thing since sliced bread and most of them didn't even know that V/P had designed and been using the system for years and years. Then as if that wasn't enough, V/P brought out the DP and the same thing happened with it.
As we both know the AQ series V/P drives were the best and still are the best outdrive on the water bar none.
Gary
 
Gary, very true!
I will occasionally still see some of the older 250's thru 290's that still operate perfectly, and some of these have never been touched.

Worst case we replace:
Main drive gear bearings after 20 to 25 years of service! (mostly with the V-8 transmissions)
PDS bearings after 20 years of service whereby the engine must be removed.
PDS bearing after 20 years of service whereby the engine does not need to be removed.

I do see drive damage due to the owner not doing a routine re-seal and/or routine drive shaft bellows replacement.
These are not drive design flaws. These are caused from owner stupidity.



BTW, Volvo Penta's first Cone Clutch out drive came out in the late 50's. Not many changes to the basic design have been made since.

BTW #2..... Volvo Penta's Duo Prop drive was introduced in 1983. And again, not many changes to the basic design have been made since.

The major draw back with the very early drives, was not offering a decent PT system.
The 250, 270, 275, 280, 285 did not offer anything but the Lift Out unit.
The T drive was all but a disaster.
The PT drive was just barely OK, but it lived a short life on the market.
The 290 drive had that awful anchorage bracket system and still required the break-a-way feature refered to as the Reverse Latch.
When the C and later drive was introduced.... things get much better.





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