88 Prostar Velvet drive problems

[Knoxes]

I posted a thread on the old site about replacing the damper plate, which I've done, but I'm still getting racket at no-wake speed, a delay in the gear engaging and it seems like it was slipping this weekend. This was the first time I've tried it under load and it wouldn't accelerate fast enough to pull up a skier. I towed some Maristar owner home about 2 miles and when I left him, it was not under load, but didn't want to accelerate. I changed the fluid when I did the damper plate (a couple of weeks ago) and the old fluid didn't look burned. I have no idea how many hours are on the boat, but I'd estimate over 750. Do I need a tranny rebuild?

[BrianM]

Sounds like it. Mine was making racket in neutral (bad damper plate) and was also leaking pretty bad from where the reverse band bolts up to the rest of the trans. The leak was just from old crusty gaskets (the boat only has 440 hrs).

I just went ahead and did a complete rebuild since I was having to pay for just about the same amount of labor to just do a reseal and damper plate. Good news (I guess) is that the complete rebuild and damper plate cost me $750 that was parts and labor. I didn't think that was all that bad.

I figure now I will never have another trans issue as long as I own the boat.