articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I been trying NOT to get carried away this year spending any more money on my 272 but we all know how this goes! My boat runs 88-89 any day of the week with a heavy load,ran best of 92.8 mph with light load. All this talk about gimble rings breaking and boats fllipping scared me enough to look into upgrading the gimble on my boat. So here are the latest parts I just bought,I had to post this thread because no one outside of OSO even has a idea what I'm talking about. Bought a stainless gimball ring,hd u-bolt and top swivel pin and then today scored a stellings extension box new off E-bay.I'm hoping to see mid to upper 90's with the exstension box and raising my drive! My wife doesn't really question what I do but I assured her these were "safety" items we needed ,Smitty

Dock Holiday

Nice boat for sure. Those are great speeds.

I really like the gimble ring. Those look great.

As for the extension box, be careful. I have driven a 25 Outlaw with an extension box and it did nothing for speed, but it sure made the boat VERY loose and I did not like the feel at all. You aways felt like you were on the edge, and crossiing wakes was interesting.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I bought the ext box after talking to a fellow oso'er who put one on a 96 272. He said it took boat from mid 80's to around 90 mph w/800 hp and that it handled like a 29 footer. Was the box raised,neutral or lower on the 25 outlaw you drove? Mine is adjustable and I'm going to mill the bolt holes out so I can move it up or down without tearing whole boat apart. Its going to be another big project,if weather stays nice and business stays busy I won't be able to do it until fall because I don't want to miss any boating,Smitty

Smitty

iTrader: (1)

Do more research before you install that Stellings box. I have a 2000 36 Outlaw and all I did was install 1" shorter drives and now it takes twice as long to plane out and I have gained no speed over stock. All I do is slip the prop til around 35-40 mph , then it finally catches up.

BajaRunner

Did you have the raised x or regular?

Smitty

iTrader: (1)

I guess I have the raised X from the factory. I am waiting for Baja to see if they can tell me.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I been trying for a year to find someone who installed a shortie or a box on a 272 before I bought anything,especially since I already own 2 std length max worx drives for my boat (a spare and my everyday one) and really don't want to buy a 3rd lower. I was hot to buy a imco 2" shortie this spring then by a stroke of luck I found a post on imco shortie on baja 25 outlaws from Bawana,a fellow osoer.He works at CMI in r&d and has modified 2 diferent baja 272's.His experience with just a 2" shortie was EXACTLY like yours,he said boat was super slow to plane,blew prop out and generally sucked all the way around. However,he then installed a neutral ext box with std drive and picked up 3 mph,also said boat felt longer,handled better. He then put the shortie back on and says it worked great. The boat ran around 85 mph before and 90 afterward. I bought a adjustable stellings box,I'm going to mill the holes out so you can loosen box up and adjust it without taking it all the way apart. So I can start out with box in neutral position, skip the shortie and just raise it a 1 inch or 2 with my standard length drive that has a well blended nosecone. My boat runs 88-89 mph loaded and just short of 93 light. I'm hoping to see mid 90's light hopefully and lower 90's loaded but we'll see. Not sure if I will do it in next few weeks or wait until summers over as I don't want boat ripped apart during boating season but I will defiinately post my results,Smitty

JaayTeee

The top hole (lowest setting) is neutral,
the second = 's 1" up, bottom ='s 2" up.

I'm betting with a standard lower, you'll
want it clear "up".

There has been some talk about running them
in the full up positon and shaft angle problems,
but I haven't heard a clear answer on this.

Some people raise the engine to avoid this.

I'm betting with the box and a shorty will be the
hot setup.

My boat has stellings boxes, the driveshaft in
the picture looks different......too long ??,
no slip joint??

Smitty

iTrader: (1)

Articfriends-

I'm sure you will make it all work for you. I just wanted to caution you with my experience. I was hoping for a "bolt on and go install" , but I'm still playing with props and may have to go with spacers to lower it back down.

Smitty

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I'm running into problems with this whole deal already. Unknowingly the guy who sold me the box thought the driveshaft was the right one for a std bravo,I thought it was for a staggerd engine or something but he felt otherwise. I bought box on E-bay fri,drove down and picked it up sat afternoon.Last night I was doing some rough figuring and driveshaft should be about 12 -13 inches long,not 34. First I figured it if it was too long I'd have it shortened and balanced.Well, the problem with that is there is no slip coupling in it either so next problem is even if you shortened it the lenght would have to be exact within thousandths or it would thrust crankshaft or bind u-joints. Also,you'd never be able to get it in the boat complete and you wouldn't be able to get to the bolts after it was in either,talked to stellings today and they confirmed this.It has to have slip coupling to work.Next thing I noticed tonight when doing rough measurements is in the lowest position box will hit the drain plug flange in the transom so if I were to put it on and need to mount it in lowest (stock x-dimension) position I wouldn't be able to.The seller is a OSO member and is willing to work something out on the driveshaft or possibly take whole thing back,I haven't had time to talk to him in person,I'm going to check locally about using the mounting flanges that came on the driveshaft with a different slip coupler before I talk to him tommorrow. Stellings wants 425$ for a correct drive shaft but that includes the flanges,they wont sell it for less without them. I have twin ram Imco steering mounted off transom,the ram ears that mount on the box are 520$ a set to buy also, plus I will have to send rams to imco for different rods plus run different hydraulic hoses,this is getting exspensive fast!
When you mounted your boxes did you set the motors in with half the driveshaft on them and connect it at the coupling or were you able to put flange bolts in from the back?This project is most likely going to wait until fall because I can see boating weekends coming and going while I straighten the small details out,Smitty