obnoxus

Exactly,,,,,,time for Imco SCX

mcollinstn

700 hp (probably 750 ft lbs of torque) going through a set of Bravo gears is going to REQUIRE that EVERYTHING is shimmed properly, and that the gears are KEPT in perfect alignment with each other. Bravo cases start to flex at 450 ft lbs. The flexing isn't a lot, but it's there. By the time you pass 500 ft lbs, you can get enough flexing to change the gear alignment. A Steel Tower (properly installed in a properly machined case) and a good billet top cap with upgraded studs and nuts will generally reduce the flex enough for a 500 ft lb setup to live a reasonably long life.

The retainer, however, gets ALL of the thrust load of the input pinion. Side to side AND the "push". The threads in the case, AND the retainer itself are very important and, if your case had compromised threads in it, no sort of retainer upgrade was going to provide enough bite to keep it from being pushed out.

Add to that, there are ways to drive that helps buffer the gears from abusive shock loads, and there are ways that aggravate them. Not knowing the difference can change a 150 hr drive life into a 1 hr drive.

Helical gears (which is what you have) also generate more pinion thrust than straight cut gears.

zz28zz

How much in/out play is there supposed to be on the input shaft? I noticed one of mine had a small amount when I had the drives off.

Mr Gadgets

Should not be any in/out play on the input shaft yoke.
I second what mcollinstn says.

zz28zz

Thx Mr Gadgets.
I have more questions, so I'll start another thread to avoid hijacking this one.