BOSSMAN

denohew: I was just in a poker run last week. There was a outerlimits with three 575's. I asked how he liked it. He said love the boat, hate the drives. He had the boat 4 months and lost two XR drives. I have a 40' with twin 750hp superchared with XZ drives. 60 hours no problems. I hope I didn't shot myself in the foot by writing this, my luck is not the best. I agree with rpm if you take off easy, don't fly in the air, they will live. Also my boat is 10,000 lb.
I hope everything works out for you.
Rich

KAAMA

iTrader: (1)

I feel bad for denohew, the guy buys a brand new boat and has nothing but grief from the start! Nobody deserves that.

IDRPSTF

So is it safe to say that the problem was not the XR's after all, but the placement of the drives. The center drive deciding the boat had nothing left to offer it and departing after 25 hours is not the same as the first complaint. What was the final outcome with Merc.? Did they say anything was wrong with the drive, or was it desighn flaw?

denohew

Hey Guys
Don't feel sorry for me. Mercury is addressing the problems & I think the lower falling off was a fluke. Maybe the Mercury wizard they sent to Austin just didn't tighten the bolts between the upper & lower spacer tight enough or maybe the bolts were not up to standard. The boat gained a few miles per hour after they ( Fixed ) it. It also didn't lose any drive oil after the ( fix ). That is a major improvement because I lost ALOT of drive oil before that. The boat was running PERFECT. Texoma was awsome. I am glad I made it through that one!!! I won the Poker Run!!!! It was an awsome day! The folks at Mercury really do care about this problem. ( But bear in mind I did have to sue them to get any action ) The 575/XR is a package that they put out & it should last ( period ) If their is a problem they should address it & suspend production until they figure it out. My boat has never been abused ( no full throttle starts or serious air, hell a Nor-Tech 50' is extremely hard to get out of the air on Lake Travis where I do 90% of my running ) They will fix it. I think they already did but there was a bolt problem.
Hey Jammin ( John ) Nice to here from you. I shouldn't have to go to BMax drives because the 575/Xr is a package that goes together ( according to Mercury ) That is why I bought them! Your boat kicks ass! Mercury will make this right. BMax's will cost me alot of money like the 575 package did but I have already paid my dues by buying Mercury all around & should not have to fork out anymore money trying to fix what Mercury promised was a bullet proof package. This is Mercury's problem & I will force them to fix it. Again they have been very nice about this. A few stronger bolts & I should be good to go. If it wasn't for my lawsuit I would be PAYING for all this work which has cost Mercury tens of thousands of dollars to address.
Also to
IDRPSTF placement of the drives was completely the problem! Mercury screwed up on the X dimension. The drives should have been mounted lower. The new drives they put on my boat were hand built by Mercury & had a different top cap on them. Also titanium gears. I didn't have a drive failure but the damn thing just fell off!
Thanks for all you guys concern for my problem. I really appreciate it! Mercury are not the bad guys like I thought before. They figure if you payed $52,000 per 575 package you should get what you payed for but as I said earlier I had to sue them to get any action out of them. If they don't fix the problem they are going to have to buy my boat back from me because I have A really mean lawyer who knows what he is doing. They don't want to have to buy this thing back so they are pretty much kissing my ass. Anyway gotta go. Hope every had a safe boating summer! Denohew ( Luna Sea )

KAAMA

iTrader: (1)

Titanium gears? Is this something NEW that Merc just came out with for the XR drive?

denohew, glad to see that Merc is taking care of you. I've often been wondering what happened with your drive situation since it was last discussed here this past spring. What was it that was causing the drives to fail being that they were mounted too high? Obviously it was because it put enough of a strain on them to cause these failures. It just seems like the deeper you mount them vs. a higher transom mount of the drives the more trouble you'd have----but what do I know? What did Merc have to say about that? Thanks for sharing.

Mark/KAAMA

Jassman

I'm just glad it worked out, nothing is more frustrating getting your brand new boat and not being able to use it. I feel for you, Especially when your at a poker run and continually breaking down, it looks bad for both Nor-teck as well as Mercury, and we all know the amount of R&D Mercury does, as well as Nor-tecks being in my top three finest boat manufacturers you can purchase. Both co. care and you can see this by how they stepped up to the plate, enjoy your boating season next year and take care.

Goody76

I am lucky I guess. 185 hours on my xr behind 750hp with the drive being in the tunnel of a single engine cat, which isn't noted as being exactly easy on outdrives. However this is not my first xr but this is the one that has by far lasted the longest. I have been through 3 Bravo I's(which is my fault you cannot run a stock Bravo I and want to go fast), 2 xr's, 1 B-max that just robs horsepower and doesn't need a gun to do it! Bottom line is in the off-season although this xr is still holding on (although the last time I changed the oil it looked like the floor of a vocational school metal shop) I am going to a speedy V, stand-off box with the trans fitted inside of it so the motor can stay and be done with it. As far as the money for cleaver props I am already paying $1895.00 for Herring 5-blade bravos. XR's, XZ's, B-Max's, hi-proformance, Imco, Max Machine Worx etc.... have on thing in common they are all still BRAVOS. I have learned the lesson the money I spent in rebuilts and lost time and towing I could have outfitted a dry-sump six with Herring swept back skegs and never lost a day!!
Next boat built is gonna be a whole different story!