2000 Sea Ray 410 V-Drive chatter - Has anyone experienced this??

MJ Anchors

New Member
Jan 31, 2018
22
Red Wing
Boat Info
410DA
Engines
7.4
Hi,
Picking up our new to us boat today. The starboard v-drive chatters and seems to quiet when put into gear. During the sea trial I did not notice this noise. And the boat performed as expected.

Previous owner claims this is a common issue and the noise dissipates after the engine/tranny warm up. Claims it's the "shift spring retainer clip" and is common. I'm not so sure and nervous about heading out on a 90 mile cruise on the Mississippi river.

Mechanic pulled starter and rotated engine to check all flywheel connections. Found no backed out bolts and no metal shaving. Also checked starter.

Is this normal or should it be repaired?
What's the risk of the tranny not working?
Approximate cost of repair?
Thanks!!!
 
Never noticed that on my 2002 410 Sundancer with Cat 3126’s and ZF Hurth V drives.
Did you get a fluid analysis of the transmissions?
 
Gas powered boats can chatter at idle. This is usually corrected with tune up or very slight idle adjustment.
 
No fluid analysis.

I did a search on v-drive "rattle" instead of chatter and found a few hits.

My concern is this rattle is the beginning of a v-drive failure.
In neutral and rev'd past 1400 rpm it starts to fade. In gear, reverse or forward, it fades a bit quicker around 1100 rpm.
 
Did you take a look at the trans fluid? Any signs of water (milky pink fluid)? I'm not a trans expert but it seems contamination of the fluid and/or failure to change fluid regularly would be leading causes of failure. I don't see many folks posting about V-Drive issues around these parts. They seem generally pretty bullet proof for the pleasure boater....knock on wood.
 
I had it on my 03 340, exactly as you described. The noise went away after warm up. I never investigated it deeply, sold the boat a year ago and it is still going strong.
 
Sounds like marbles.... Nothing to worry about. Mine does it and so does my buddy's. Bump up from 650 rpm to 750 under load and it' gone. The trany picks up every vibration from the engine and the dampner plate is what you are hearing.

You might be able to cut half the noise down via a full tune up. Plugs wires etc. Make sure your manifolds and risers are good too! Moisture can make your engine miss slightly and you hear it pronounce it self thru the damper plate.
 
pcarp and LG111,

How many years have you experienced this noise? I was surprised by the noise and thought the worst was about to happen.

Having a mechanic looking at it today. Will let you know how that goes.

Thanks,
 
Hi
I went thru 2 1/2 seasons with the noise. The noise never changed over that period of time. During that time I did replace spark plugs, cap and rotors plus all other standard maintenance.
 
The mechanic thinks it's the rattle/chatter thing that people on this site eluded to . But wouldn't give 100% commit without taking the v-drive out and inspecting.
I'm gonna shake the dice and drive her home.
 
The mechanic thinks it's the rattle/chatter thing that people on this site eluded to . But wouldn't give 100% commit without taking the v-drive out and inspecting.
I'm gonna shake the dice and drive her home.
You still may want to change the fluid (maintenance item anyway) and send in a sample of the old fluid for analysis to establish a base line. Might be time and money well spent.
 
pcarp and LG111,

How many years have you experienced this noise? I was surprised by the noise and thought the worst was about to happen.

Having a mechanic looking at it today. Will let you know how that goes.

Thanks,

Good question. Port tranny is brand new last year with new damper plate. It's the new plate not the trany. Your trany is fine... It's the plate and don' fall for a mechanic saying it needs to be pulled an inspected. He's an idiot !

The previous port trany failed from a manufacturing issue back in 2001 that finally snapped one of the internal shafts. I tore that trany down at home to understand the internals. Which are just gears and clutch plate suspended by bearings front and back. The filter side has a pipe that goes the way to the bottom of the trany. I can see now why to suction drain the fluid from that side. All fluid would be vacated. There is NOTHING in the trany that could possible make a chatter or marbling sound. It's a very simplistic design. If a bearing let loose that would be very metallic in sound.
By the way these tranys V65's are cheap in the scheme of things. Under $3k. Labor is around 16 hours.

My starboard just started to marble. It's
The dampner plate. I also think my riser leak was making the engine run slightly rough, not enough to notice and the damper was picking up the engine miss at 650 rpm.

So just run your boat and enjoy the heck out of her!
 
MJ--no worries with that chatter. I had a sea ray 390 that had the 7.4 and those trannies. They rattled the entire TEN years I owned the boat and I had no issues.
One side did rattle slightly more than the other (cant remember which one) but I always attributed it to one tranny spins backwards than the other.
Noise comes from flex plate area when listened thru a stethoscope.
 
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! We've run her about 12 hours and over 100 miles and so far so good. Not worrying about this noise anymore...
Thanks!
 
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! We've run her about 12 hours and over 100 miles and so far so good. Not worrying about this noise anymore...
Thanks!


perfect!

crazy mechanics, many just don't
know about the chatter.
 

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