The boat is a 98. I think the drives were originally done in 2000 or so By MMW. They were refreshed in 04 before I purchased the boat. The drives have held up very well behind the 800's, but... the boat isn't very heavy. I do run 1.36 gears and 36p Bravo props, so it does see some serious stress. I did have one issue last year, but it was due to a broken top cap. Knock on wood..... they have been very reliable for me.


Darrell.

The problem I see with building a gear set,either upper or lower,is when you have a gear cnc machined vs net forged or near net forged the root strength is signifigantly LESS so any gains from a superior alloy will be lost as far as root strength. I spent alot of time and some money trying to get lower gear sets built until I found out unless they are forged there will be less root strength. I think to get any where with the lowers you need to spend 50,000$for a short run IF the 5000$ protypes held together,with the current market it is out of the question. As far as uppers you could easily spend 250,000$ getting forging dies made,prototype gear sets,r&d time, a small production run,etc,etc and still would they be superior to the current merc stuff and how many years would it take to sell enough of them to ever re-coup your cost?,Smitty

Totally correct

and as was shown in the 'Konrad' post, even they are using Merc lower gears.

Steve

My goal is to make the upper gears any way possible so that they are stronger than what Merc currently offers. The new stuff from merc is crap. I know I can get some forged gears made that are stronger and not 2 piece like mercs are.

A Merc gear is getting evaluated right now.

"A Merc gear is getting evaluated right now."

I've heard there being made from used TRS cases,thats what the one i broke looked like anyway.

Getting confused with 'Smitty' and 'Articfriends' here....anyway,

If you read what I answered in post 28, when I had an XR gear and helical gear analysed on October 19 2007, the XR gear was from a 2007 box, OW and up, the material identification debunks the 'new Merc crap' and even goes so far as to say the material is satisfactory....not the best but...

IMO, you would need access to the Mercury dies and have the gears forged from a 'better' material.

The 2 piece gear bit, I have never had a thick floor gear fail there unless it had a broken tooth.

I am not a Merc dealer or lover of their policies and would appreciate them supplying a higher quality gear.

The only way I see it happening is from Mercury, so unless you can convince them, break out the bandaids.

Steve

Steve

Thank you for your input and comments !!

I am reverse engineering the gears to aid in the making of dies. In my area we have seen more failures of the most currently manufactured gear sets. I feel the material used is sufficient enough for say 500hp, but of course most of us have much more and I am sure if the gears are made of a different or better material, I will get what I am looking for.

And also I keep breaking teeth off at the root along with the other guys as well. I feel that the air gap behind the tooth that is there since the hub that the brass ring screws onto is fusion welded, is an area of possible weakness that I plan to eliminate with my gears.

I guess we will see what I come up with.

Thanks again !!!

Smitty,

Good luck and keep us posted, with good results and a reasonable price you will sell heaps.

Steve

Smitty any progress?

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy a IMCO SCX upper.. with the 5"+ gears.. and be done with it?

They are about the same cost as replacing three sets of upper gears... and IMCO is reporting no failures to date.

Chris