I am looking for everyones experience in how fast they have turned a bravo xr in a deep v with decent results. I am putting in a new big cube motor and am trying to keep the torque off the drive as much as possible. The numbers are going to be in the neighborhood of 850HP and close to 800 ft/lb. I was thinking if I spun it to around 6000rpm wot, then the drive might live a little longer.

Anyone have opinions of how fast they can be operated and live?

those rpm's won't kill it.....that TQ will soon though. If it's in that Formula 271 you might get it to live a little longer but all that power in one drive pushing the hull is going to fail....just when????

I know a guy spinning one @7400 in a Joker !!!

yea it is going in the 271. I love the boat and it's solid ride. It is pretty impressive in the rougher stuff for a 27' boat. It just isn't very fast, so I figured I'd throw a rocket in it and maybe get the best of both worlds!

they really dont like anything morethan 6000 r's . you can spin them more however the more rpm than 6k the faster the bearings in the lower go. and i do mean fast. i have set up more than a few single vees with 700 - 900= HP BRAVOS and they truly dont like the high rpm. good luck.

When you rebuild it get caged needle bearings. They're rated for more RPM.

I tried the caged ones and they run themselves dry...the merc bearings last a bit longer.

I would most likely ask someone who might have alot experience with rebuilding these drives and thats all they do day in and day out. www.maxmachineworx.com also www.bravoshop.net Also their is a guy in Wisconsin that did or still does works in directly with mercruiser on just lower units. Its MPI . (rebuilt mercruiser sterndrives is all he does along with why they failed) I went to his class many years ago very smart guy about outdrives. I would have to look his # up. Also torque, props coming out of the water, full throttles starts, lack of maintenance, water intrusion, and of course impact all killers of outdrives.

over 6000 RPM and u are pushing it