I swap mine every year.

how come no one has made a comment about d-hlaw being told to wait till the cracked gear fails then replace it. That cracked gear could cause a catastrophic failure within the drive when it lets go at 5000 RPM's and maybe worse if it causes an instability or loss of control of the boat (two boats side by side at 75Mph when the drive lets go and hooks the boat into the boat alongside).Otto

Great point 36 Spectre,

If a gear is cracked it should be replaced, if you hook at 75mph, rebuilding a drive will be the last thing on your mind!!!!!!!!1

I'm with 36spectra on this one. Why take a chance on someone getting hurt?

Here's one of the links about the XR gears. My regular Bravo gears showed no wear with the same hours, engines and boat, the year before. I upgraded the drives for more reliability! I've head that most people are having good luck with their second set of XR gears.


http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ighlight=rbtnt

What are you saving ,$100 for the gear? Most of the cost is in the labor as long as there is'nt anything really broken. It takes the "if it ain't broken don't fix it" adage to new heights. Otto

That's like tellin' you to not worry about that rod knock!!!!!:eek:

I thought the very same about the gear issue
Gee what if this guy worked on our Jet Aircraft
" ya ya the blade on the 2 stage compressor is cracked just
wait till it goes :confused:" ya at 30000 ft with me and the wife
NOT. :mad: damn fool.

Not a good idea.
You dont want to flex something in both directions it will fail very quickly. If you flip the drives make sure you swap the lowers so that the torque stays the same (keep the lowers on the original side they were running on and only move the uppers). The upper gearset will have a new gear to run on but only the driven gear. The weaker gear or input gear is already worn and will fail first. Normally the input gear will be the one with the cracks or pits because it has less teeth and has a high cycle rate
If your drive is showing excessive wear fix it or pay more when it explodes.
pat W

see...smart people do lurk in here!! thanks pat!

Yea, I agree with shifter. The parts are all broken in and meshed running in the one direction. I think you could cause problems running them the opposite way. I wouldnt do it unless I was about to rebuild them or they were very new.