might be buying a bravo drive setup I have a few questions please

[cbellamore]

I might have found a complete Bravo inner and outer transom assembly, gimble and rams with lines and shift cable complete
its supposed to be from a 1997 sea ray that came stock with a 454 merc motor

so what year outrdrive fits this setup ?

Im not familiar with outdrives at all,

I know there is a Bravo 1, 2, 3, XR etc.

so would any of these fit this transom assembly

I know the XR's are supposed to be heavy duty ones right ?

which is the best unit to use besides the XR ?

I dont want to buy the transom assembly if only a certain year outdrive will work with it or certain type of Bravo drive will work with it,

From what Ive read besideds the XR the Bravo 1 was the better of the bunch ? or does it not matter ?

what years was the Bravo 1 produced ?
thanks for any help sorry if these are stupid questions but I dont want to waste what little money I have to spend on the boat

[hoozeyurdaddy]

I beleive all of the standard bavo's will fit that transom unit, untill you get into the HP stuff, the bravo came out in 88 or 89 and the mounting has not changed much, it is the same for all bravo's 1,2 &3. I'm running a imco extreme sc with a Hp gimbal ring and dual ram full hydraulic steering and the gimble assy it self is just a standard unit.

[cbellamore]

whats the difference between the Bravo 1, 2, and 3 ?

is one better than the other ?

is there a particular one I should be looking for ?

I think Im going to get the transom and gimble assembly that I found for sale

thanks

[jeffswav]

Originally Posted by cbellamore

whats the difference between the Bravo 1, 2, and 3 ?

is one better than the other ?

is there a particular one I should be looking for ?

I think Im going to get the transom and gimble assembly that I found for sale

thanks

Bravo 1 is prefered for performance boating. Bravo 2 I beilieve was designed for cruisers. Bravo 3 is the dual prop, good for underpowered boats to get on plane quickly, better for lower RPM when tubing or kneeboarding. Bravo 3 is "slower" than the Bravo 1.

[Ghostrider]

The Bravo 1 also either came standard or with the HD Gimbal ring, that just meant that instead of 2 ridges in the lower 'ears' of the ring, it had thicker, stronger filled in cast, it was also overall beefier too. (hence HD)

From what I've read, the B1 Transom assembly is a standard fit and fix across all the B range (1, 2, 3) with specific little differences hear and there like longer rams for the B3.

B1's the best of the '3', X is the diesel varient of the B1, XR is the 'Sport' varient that has helical cut gears from memory and a 1 1/4" prop shaft? Supposed to be better overall.

The B1 comes in either the older block back (vertical rear shift arm cover plate) or the newer style swept back. I think all the guts are the same between the two (bearings, shaft sizes etc) but probably some metalurgy improvements from lessons learned. The older style B1's key vulnerability is it's top cap. Thin and weak, they updated the top cap style to a much thicker, finned cap for the later swept back model.
Better solution still is to get an aftermarket combo Billet Topcap with built in drive shower as B1's also get hot and don't like that much either.

Either way, get a B1, put a Billet top cap on it (Billet Marine or others), and don't jump on it like a drag boat and it should last fine!

[Mr Gadgets]

The early transom mounts did not have a resovior bottle, hence no fitting for it. The newer (90 or so) drives will bolt up without leaking. But you cant put an 88 drive on a new transom because of the fitting on the helmet. There may be a recess on the older drive, but I am not sure.. I do know the bottle will be non functional. Besides you dont want the old stuff anyway..
So from about 90 up they will all fit. When changing to XR with old style ujoints, the gimbal bearing must be replaced along with spacers added to the trim cylinders to limit travel in the up position so it doesn't pinch the yoke on the ujoints and break it.
HD gimbal uses a differnt helmet and gimbal ring using a different hinge pin setup. All the bravos will bolt to either the standard or HP gimbal.
B1 drives with serial number prefix of OL or older have thin floored helical cut upper gears. OM and above (2000, I believe) have new X gears. Same gear just with thicker floor in the hub. Inner bearings are different height, so race on the tower is shorter. XZ drive uses the X helical cut gears, but larger pinion gear input shaft (same size as XR gears)
XR drive used straight cut, net forged upper gears. Also uses the 1 1/4" propshaft. XR is suppose to be the stronger setup, but there has been a problem with teeth breaking off the driven gear at the root.. Never saw that 3-4 yrs ago.

Before the X gears came along, Merc did some bead blasting on the upper gears and called the Diesel gears and they were used in the drives that were put behind the Diesel engines. They proved to be no better than the regular gears.

B2 is dual prop and is for heavy boats not pleasure boats.
B3 is dual prop for getting on plane quicker, with low hp. And max speed is below 60mph I believe..

Top cap is important when LH rotation is used. I like to use the XR ribbed top cap, even on RH rotation because it uses a steel tower in the cap. But on RH all the pressure is on the lower gear in the case.
Top caps must be measured for race depth to match up with the cap being replaced and any difference is compensated by changing the thickness of the race.

Hope this helps..
Dick