worth the weight
 

the 1:30 HT B-max is a 15/19 merc 1:5 lower gear, the change is from the teeth count in the upper.
A good freind of mine had tried all the Bravo fix's teauge,imco,max.....and the longest he ever got on a worked XR is 20 hours babying it with 843hp in a 26' Awesome cat. he bought a re-worked (from dean) poker run B-max july of 2005 ran out the season (and did one poker run), ran all of 2006(did a 5 day trip to LOTO) pulled the motor worked it to 960 hp ran half of 2007 pulled the drive for a bellows leak, and found one chiped tooth in the upper driven gear, swaped the driven gears, put the chiped gear in reverse and is STILL running!! ran 110-111 with 1:5 xr's and 843hp with B-max 1:30 ran 106-107 gps.
DOWN TIME TO DATE 2 DAYS.
no more having too baby it... on the pins streched out is 116 mph.

I'm so impressed We bought 2 HT's for our 388.................. let the power building begin LOL

Taken from the website and it's also listed on my warranty card.
"The Bmax HT also offers more in the warranty department. This new drive is rated at 950 hp and 950 ft lbs torque in a gas application. The diesel application is rated at 480 hp and 950 ft lbs torque. The one year limited warranty for these figures is based on boats that weigh 15,000 lbs or less. There is an additional two year extended warranty available for purchase for a total warranty period of three years. "

I have heard B-maxes have their own problems like porosity in the shifter cap, notchy shifting and they still chew up and spit out lower gears the same as a Bravo because they just use bravo gears BUT I have spoken to several users/owners of them and haven't heard of widespread failures like your speaking of,please elaborate on the failures if you have LEGIT info,Smitty

Agreed, two years behind my rig and upon tear down this year for an engine rebuild still perfect. Show me!!!

Artic, are you sure they use bravo gears?

Only in the lowers. The gears are treated...similiar to what Smitty and Dick do to their bravo gears. If you had problems blowing up XR lowers in the past due to high x-dimensions (Cats especially) or tons of power you'll probably see the same results but the uppers are much more stout then any Bravo XR or derrivative.

Upper gears are approx 5 inches in diameter. I've completely dissassembled and assembled mine, if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.

Inside an BMax HT

I should have been more accurate in my description,the b-max uses very large,beefy upper gears made by their own manufacturer,they use a merc bravo lower gear . As far as stock xr's outlasting them (b-maxes) in a big boat with big power,I'm not 100% convinced,Smitty

One of the only merc parts inside the upper is the shift fork/cam.

there were a few triple. twins . and a quad which made it back with one drive, which didnt feel real good..it was the miami boat show poker run a few years ago..the spectre was a diesel 440 yanmar.never had a gimbal failure with it..

What kinda boat other than the big Nortech cat runs quads? And why would a boat that big/heavy have a bravo style drive on it to begin with?

And, what broke in the drive? If you have some pictures please post them.

Again, what kind of pwr did these boats have??

12 failures w/ one boat seems unreal and zero failures w/ the bravo????

Am I missing something??

Here is a question for the B max owners. The B Max isn't designed to run the exhaust throught the drive, BUT, what if you keep all the silent choice set up, and let the exhaust come out the transom like designed, only to bubble to the surface around the drive? Only doing this off plane of course. Does anyone see a problem with that?

This is as true of a statement I have read. I have 2 friends with similiar problems. One still has them on, the other sold his. Both loss of speeds, failures, and warranty just plain sucks. As ya'll know, Im not a bravo guy, Iv'e had my share of the weak link breaking. Speedmaster drives or there is alot to be said about the simplicity of these Arneson drives. It is the only two ways I would go, Ive had both and love them. Good Luck guys, Happy New Year.

Jassman,
What kind of pwr are your friends running?
Concerning the warr- Was that the service or the warr period?

725-800 hp.
one has been waiting for parts for ever and the other..a night mare, lost speed, like over 10 mph vs the bravo's...If you get a chance do a search. Jeff

I'm with you on the surface drive option, but for those of us with singles, its not so atractive, sadly.

I have some picks of my new HT's at the house,ill try and post:D

...............................

Strip,
How has the service been on them?
Is Dean the only one who works on them?

Did you have a 1.50 gear before changing to Bmax?
Did you re prop?
Sorry about all the questions. I'm looking for a drive system to match some new pwr.
Thanks

Service is good to so/so. He could do better,My boat came with the B Max"'s 1.30 gears before I bought it anticipating of putting Whipple's on it.,I went up from 24 stock to 32's.with the Whipple's. Dean stood behind them for three years with different probs , these were 2001 drives, I now Have the new HT's for 2007.When I got the new ones I bought a extra lower because the lower gears are the week link (as all bravo style lowers are)and If it broke on vacation Id have a spare and wouldn't ruin a vacation.I think there may be a couple of other shops that do warranty work ,but I would send it back to Dean,Any prob he turns it back around quick if he has parts. I broke a vert shaft on the old drive 2 years ago in July,I sent it over night on Tues to him,he put the shaft in it and shipped it back out that Wed. I didn't miss a weekend.

You will have to reprop unless you raise your rpm level ie more power.

I guess over the Bravo1 and the B Max is around 2 mph loss ,Some Ive even seen no loss on one Hustler. On the higher HP boats or cats there going to have to go up in gear anyway,1.30 1.2somting , he"s even got one cat that running 1.1.The foot is thick on the skeg, I worked it pretty good ,an almost got it polished out.I know for a fact that the B Max lower VS stock lower foot it didn't hurt it , It was about the same in speed , I was hitting 100-101 pretty easy in the right water, Now it has hit 102 a few times.You can see theres Not much boat in the water in pick.

I would buy them again.

Hope this helps:DRob

I had a few piled up at the beging of the season:D

other pick

. .

other name brands

What are the HT drives worth? Roughly?

My engine will be over 750hp this year, and my new XR may not hold up to long. Unless I drive it like a p ussy

Thanks for posting the pics...

Nice pics

rob, how much of the foot did u take off, i was looking at mine and thought about thinning the skeg some seems to thick to me.

Great Pictures!!!!

I ground on it with a da, Not the best thing , should of used a belt sander ,but im anal and have done a little body work before, I still could do double what I did,. Dean said i can get crazy with it, The main prob I saw was the mid section were the vert bearing is , its wavey there!!!, But on mine im pretty sure theres no drag there because it not much inn the water when running, I think the skeg will give us the most benifits.Dean said make it like a Merc sprot master,I think thin it to a stock bravo:D all its going to do is crack or shear off, but ya find the limit. This past summer getting board looking at the drive I started playing with it grinding straightening it out ,polishingh itto 260grit,then 320 400.its snoved out prettygood, zjust remember the castin is real RUFF!!, so to make it pretty/straight/thinner will take few bud lights over afere restocking of ZBl to get you paticsnceto to gring on then skegs sme more, Now ya know your only 46% thru(m just playing for it,till the GF hits the bach of the head:(

What kind of pwr are you guys pushing and weight of your boat.
I'm looking at the Bmax. I'm about 900hp and 5500 lbs single v NON step.
Thanks

I was 750hp 4800 to 5000 lbs loaded will be 850hp this year. Also a single 280 Velocity.

10,500 lbs. DRY... 36' Apache, flat bottom.

Blown 580 cu. in. 715 hp 740 ft. lbs. the first year, 830 hp / 830 ft. lbs. the second year. http://media.putfile.com/JC-Performance-Dyno

Rob posted some pics above or brand X drives.....

Here are some pictures of my OLD brand X drives.... 20 hrs total on them with 715 hp...:hitfan:

more of my brand X pics...

what the heck... here's a few more....

Two drives, one season...brand new.. 20 hrs..:Whatever:

$20K in drives....IMCO's response was, "Sorry but there is nothing we can do. But, we can rebuild it for you"

Then I priced a new upper, $6500 from them direct. Called up someone I know and wound up getting it for $5700 thru another dealer.

I sold them the following winter and moved to the BMax and in two trouble free seasons on the Ocean I can say I'm happy that I made the swap.

Since I posted pictures of my OLD gears of brand X at 20 hrs.... Here are some pics of my BMax upper gears at 60 hrs.... Barely a wear pattern or any shadows on the upper gears...compared to teeth broken off the XR style gears or brand X....:hitfan:

thank you Panther

What gimble assy are you running?

All are going to eat lower gear sets, ALL:D