Sterndriver or engine noise?

[yellowsulphur27]

I have 2001 Bryant with a 4.3L and alpha drive. This boat was bought new in 2001 and unfortunately has had little use due to serious illnesses in my family. In fact I only have 44 hours on the boat since 01. Nevertheless, I have still maintained the boat annually with quicksilver 2-4-c, gimbal, and spline greases, as well as proper winterization and annual gear lube and oil changes. Two weeks ago was the maiden voyage for this year, and the first time I have ever ran into a problem. While on the trailer the motor started and ran fine, no vibration or unknown noises. However, when I would steer the drive to the left all the way to the lock point, I would hear a loud roaring. Steer back to center or right, and no noise. The noise would begin about 3/4 to full application of left steering input. This noise did not matter either with the drive trimmed up or down, or if it was in neutral or in forward/reverse. The noise would begin once the engine was above 1500rpms. I called several dealerships and they all said the same thing...gimbal bearing. I took the boat to a dealership and was told after the first day that after they removed the drive, they found the u-joints were in perfect condition, no sign of rust on the gimbal and no water intrusion in the bellows. No real indication of why the noise was occuring. They went ahead and changed the gimbal and verified the engine alignment was within specs. No coupler splines were missing or broken splines on the input shaft. They restarted the engine without the drive and informed me that the noise was heard louder without the drive and that they believe the noise is coming from the engine. They now want to pull the engine at a cost of 600.00+ which may or may not result in an explanation of the problem. I had them just put the stern drive back on and restart the engine. The loud roaring noise they claimed was coming from the engine is now non-existant, but again, the roaring only occurs from the left steering. I do not understand how without a drive the engine would have a roaring noise that before only was heard when steered left. There should be nothing moving at the engine without the drive. Furthermore, if the gimbal bearing was in fact changed, how would I know? I wonder if they actually changed the gimbal because one tech I spoke with told me they had not changed the gimbal once they heard the noise from the engine instead of the drive, and the service manager claimed they had changed the gimbal. When asked to see the gimbal bearing that was removed, they walked to a 55 gallon drum with bearings and other parts and pulled one out claiming it was mine. The bearing they pulled was one by sierra instead of Mercury Marine. I seriously doubt when Mercury put together the motor they would have used an aftermarket gimbal. Now I am wondering if the dealership never replaced anything, and they wanted to pull the engine just to charge for that and then change the gimbal so it would fix the problem and charge me for an engine coupler and engine removal and installation. Please help, I am at a loss, and now the dealership wants me to call mercruiser myself to get support. This is a mercruiser premier dealership and the boats they manufacture and sell are part of the brunswick family. I would assume they would be of the highest ethics and intelligence, but now I don't know.