RBeyer

I am done with Bravos. Any thoughts on upgrades? I have a good source for a great price on an Imco Extreme, however what about B-max, Konrad, etc. I have a modified EFI ProCharged 454 in a Velocity 280 got 7 hours on my last Bravo and never left the water. It goes away on flat water going on plane. Any thoughts are welcome.

NJSONIC

What are you breaking in the Bravo-uppers or lowers? What gear ratio? On a lighter boat like yours Bmax would be the way to go.

RBeyer

Uppers disintegrate, I have done 1.50 and 1.36 every prop from a labed 32 to a labbed 28 with the 1.36 this time. It is not a can't drive it thing I have gotten a 150 hours out of a Bravo but enough is enough.

NJSONIC

Merc. had a problem with upper gears last year. I don't know if they fixed the problem. I had Bravo type drives 1.36 but they lasted 10 hours with two major failures. I changed to Konrad Ace's so far no problems.

RBeyer

Waht kind of boat, HP. prop size. We have not dynoed but our guess is between 725 to 775 maybe a little more, Know a place to get a good price.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like you are just done with bravos but your choices are limited for a bolt on replacement. On the bigger boats a konrad bravo conversion could be a good set-up but unless you can move engine forward some and re-rig some things it will be difficult.The only "bolt-on" drive that I know of is a b-max,super hd upper gears,bigger and heavier too if you don't mind ,still uses stock xr lower gears,this year they are treating them with some kind of a process though. They have a hd lower with beefy gears every one is talking about but it is not for regular bravo props or speed boats.The thing I would look at is who is building your drives,what is going in them,is someone telling you the regular parts are as good as the aftermarket ones? I am running around 950 hp in a boat close to the same size and weight as yours,my upper gears are going on 4 years old. I built my own bravo drive using the upgrade parts from max machine worxs,regular xr upper gears they supposedly put thru some kind of process,a hd steel tower,billet top cap,different thrust bearings and inside bearings in the gears,hd steel spanner nut where stock one is aluminum,billet steel seal holder where input shaft goes in,billet input yoke,hd shaft going thru the cone clutch,hd coupler,billet vert shaft,billet prop shaft. I run a 30 pitch labbed bravo and 32 pitch labbed bravo depending how much fuel and passengers I have in my boat.My old motor was a blown 540 making around 725-750 hp,I would take off from rolling start at wfo all the time,every winter I tore drive down and checked the gears and bearings for wear or scarring,the stuff would look like new. I did shear off a vertical shaft one time putting boat into full boost over and over and over again trying to see if I could keep jumping waves going down river being a dumbazz but that was stupidity on my part. I have since upgraded motor further to mid 900 hp/tq range,lower gears have became a issue lasting about 40-50 hours before they start chipping away a eating them selves up but a B-max uses the same ones so it wouldn't help in my case. But as far as you puking drives in 7 hours with 750-800 hp in a light boat there are parts out there that will hold up 100 plus hours unless your just a madman when taking off. Ian blain,aka patriyacht has 700 hp N/A 540motors in a 13,000lb plus black thunder without many drive issues running bravo's, Smitty

Biggus

iTrader: (1)

Last year, Velocity installed a Konrad Ace system on a 290 with an 800 hp Innovation. As with all the Konrad installations, it's been working flawlessly. Give Clay at Velocity a call. He can fill you in with the details.

Kurt
[email protected]

zt260

I run the Bmax with 1000+HP and this year I'm testing new coated lower gears for Dean. Thus far in about 20hrs it has no sign of problems. I have run it very hard for several 100+mph passes, and normally that would be trouble for the lower gears. I think Bmax has a winner here. If it lasts the season for me I'll be very satisfied. I'm going on vacation in 10 days, and it will see a lot of abuse. If it holds up I'll be very impressed. The upper was already bullet proof, but 1.30 ratio is the highest available. With under 800HP you really can't break it.

Vinny P

rbeyer,
You never mentioned what Bravo you are running? I am running 680 hp, 660 torque in an 25 Checkmate. I beat it up pretty good, but respect it. I am running an XR upper, Imco SC lower. So far, 40 hours this season no issues at all. Due to necessity, I learned how to build them myself. As you can imagine, your drives longevity has alot to do with how it is set up. You wont make it out of the "No Wake" zone with a bad set up.

Panther

BMAX

$11K, 1 year warranty to 950 HP/TQ, buy the 2 yr extended warranty for a total of 3.

Switched from IMCO Extremes, they're just glorified bravo's. The BMax upper gears are twice the size of the Bravo and so are the bearings etc.

It's the most economical conversion IMHO.