Bravo XR Service?
 

I have a 353 Fastech with 500s, XR's and extension boxes. I purchased this boat at the start of last year, and the previous owner stated that he used Amsoil in the drives. My question is in regards to maintenance. What maintenance needs to be done in order to effectively service the drives at the start of this season? Is it just a simple change of Amsoil? Or is there more to it? I am trying to decide if I am going to do it myself, or have the work done.

i would check the magnets top and bottom . if there is a litle bit of metal fuzz on them that is ok , but if there are chip's or flake's then i would have them gone threw .

my 2cent
mike

Pull both oil plugs and inspect for pieces of metal. Like was said, fuzz is ok.
Drain lube.
Refill Lube by pumping it in from the bottom.
Reinstall top plug.
Grease gimbal bearing.
Grease coupler and U joints.

Thanks for the info. This sounds like a job that I will pay to have done.

You should pull the drives and grease the u-joints.

Every 300 hours or 3 years is what my manual says. I just got done doing mine. Everything looked great, but I did have a lot of dried/hard spline grease on the shaft and coupler splines.

For the time it takes I do them every season. 300 and 3 years just seems way to long to me , but what do I know. :drink:

I am with you, I pull mine every winter and inspect the gimbal bearing and u-joints, Tear down the complete drive every other year and swap drives every winter from port/starboard.
Better safe than sorry....

Why do you swap drives from port to starboard every other year? Not trying to be a smart arss, I just have never heard of this.

So that the teeth wear evenly... They rotate in oposite directions. Swapping sides gives even wear to both sides of the gear faces.

Chris

Also, there are several things that need to be greased inside the extension box, assuming they are Stellings.

True dat.

front and rear u-joints, slip joint and carrier bearing.

Thanks Chris, I'll do that next time around.

Chris

I talked to the marina that does all of my service today, and they said that they will not put Amsoil in the drives, for liability reasons. They said that they will only use the Mercruiser Racing Oil. Will it be bad to go from the Amsoil to the Mercruiser Racing Oil?

They wont use "Amsoil" for what reason??? Is it because it is Amsoil or is it because they wont use anything other than the Merc Racing Oil???

Probably because they bought Merc HP lube in a 5 gallon bucket at a cost of about $8/quart and going to charge you full retail ($14) quart price.

They claim that since they are a Mercruiser dealer, than the Mercruiser oil is the only thing that they will use. They based this on liability reasons. They also said that they don't know much about the Amsoil. Frankly, if the Merc HP racing oil is good, I really am not dead set on Amsoil, esp. considering that the Amsoil is hard to purchase. I am not a racer, and don't run the boat very hard for long periods of time, so I would be curious to know the differences in the oil, and what the true benefits are with the Amsoil vs. Merc. HP oil? Thanks for the info Griff.

I have always run the Merc HP gear lube with no problems.

I guess someone is making out on my boat as I've had my out drive servied every 2 years or 100ish hours. Should I follow your owners manual suggested service interval................Nah I might even do it more often. Preventive maintenance does have a meaning after all, like it or not.

I'm just passing on what the Maintenance Schedule states in the owners manual I have. It's not my opinion, assumption, or inclination... just the facts as printed in black and white. I believe that would be preventive maintenance according to Mercury. I'm not telling anyone what to do, just supplying information. You're the captain do what you will with your boat. Heck, change it every six months if you want that's even better.:rolleyes:

They wouldn't use Amsoil because there isn't anywhere on the oil package or website that states that it is to be used on marine outdrives. If anyone has any data on this, please share. I ended up signing a waiver, and got them to use the Amsoil. Considering that Amsoil has always been run through the drive for the entire 200 hours, I would like to continue that. I hope that I made the right choice, as my mechanic acted like I was crazy.

If you go to www.amsoil.com look under gear lube I believe. They have a product that is labeled Marine Lube or Marine Gear Lube. To me that says it all as far as specific use. As for the Severe Gear Lube... I've never seen any literature that states it's for marine applications so I didn't go that route although many people on this site say they use it. What product do you run?

The guy that I bought the boat from swears up and down that the Severe Gear is the best, and that is what he has run in the drives. I ordered the Severe Gear, but the fact that it doesn't say anything about a marine application has me worried. I am not a racer, nor do I run the boat very hard. One part of me just wants to have them go ahead and just use the Merc HP lube. I want to use a gear lube that is going to lead to the long life and dependability of the drive. At this point, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do?

I'm sure that either way will be just fine. Chances are if you get any water in your drive, it will be a total failure by the time its discovered anyway. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it either way.

I agree. When we're talking about such high quality products as these, we're probably just splitting hairs.

I went ahead and had my mechanic use the Amsoil Severe Gear 75W-90. The boat ran great last year with the same stuff, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Thanks for all of the information guys!