Mr. Gadgets - I'll keep you informed on how my stock uppers last with my new Imcos. You'll be the second to find out if something fails.

Tblrklakemo

The Checkmate i have dose have a step (1)

Oh, ok.....i dont know much about checks'. The ext box really shines on boats that have no notch in the transom, and again I dont know if you have one of those either. The only reason i mention the box is it allows you to mount a transmission in it, not move the motor, and put a non bravo drive on the boat for some real power in the future. The stock bravo is nice place to start, and if your easy on it will hold up great for the amt of time you keep your boat. Still worried? Call gadgets and have him set it up for much less than a nex xr will cost.....IMO

If your in the 28ft. to 32ft. any of the drives mentioned will do.
You noticed I said will do. I've been around outdrives for over 40 years. When it comes to Bravo drives, nothing is better than Mercury. All the others just copy and add a little here and there. Bottom line they all break over 600hp. I,ve worked on them all. Some just break a little sooner than others. You want a good drive that will replace them all and give you good reliability, than convert to the Konrad Drive.

like the man said they all break.

Kenneth,
I noticed yours is a ZT, mine is a Convincer, without a step, hence the box.
I also have a friend that has a 97 28' Convincer, bigger NA motor than mine, goes faster and his stock B1 has held up. I rebuilt it after 7yrs and he is on his 4th year after the rebuild. He respects it, and it has stayed together.
Anything can be broken if tried. But I tell him the same thing, a properly setup B1 will go along way. When the teeth start coming off.. go to XR gears. If the shafts twist, go to better shafts.
I use mostly Merc parts, some Imco. I feel the combination I use has worked pretty good among my customers. Not being a Merc dealer, I can pick and choose what I think works best. What we try to do is establish a maintenace schedule to catch things before they break. Watching magnets tells you a great deal and most of my customers enjoy the peace of mind that an inspection tear down gives, especially when the boat is bigger, and the HP/TRQ is bigger..

Hope this helps..

D*ck

Mr. Gadget
My B1 has 152 hours on it, the drive has been rebult twice.I keep wipping out the clutch cone.What is the problem.

do you pull backon the throttle when you leave the water? Mine welded up one time when I didn't pull back soon enough and the prop had extreme cavitation when I reentered .

What does the cone look like when you say wiped out? Are the ridges smoothed out and very shinny? What are the symptons after a failure? Are you running a drive shower? What rpm are you shifting at? Do you, as Payton says, time your throttle with air time. The prop must reenter the water at the same speed it left, otherwise bad things happen.

More details, please.
I dont usually have customers with clutch problems.

KONRAD ACE