I 've had Bmax's on the back on my boat for the last 5 years...

They sat in a shop for 2 years before I bought them so they were early models from Dean.

To their credit they never blew up. I purchased them because I'd blow up a Bravo type of drive (Imco Extreme, XR, Max Machine... I tried them all) about every other weekend.

They were quirky though ..like I said they were early models...Hard to get in and out of gear...sometimes one would not go into reverse...and sending one back to Dean to sort out a shifting problem yielded no results.

At the end of last season one of them got stuck in gear so I resigned myself to the fact that they really needed major service and a local friend who also has Bmax's told me about John and that the Bravo Shop was back in business in Nebraska and being run by a guy named John.

I called John and we spoke about my drive that was stuck in gear and told him about the other drive also.

I wound up sending both drives to John for service and John tore into both and sent them back looking like brand new drives and they work like brand new drives.

I'm pumping 725 HP Blown HP into each on a 10,000 lb boat stepped hull and like I said they've never blown up and now they shift perfectly and go in and out of gear like butter.

I could not be happier and John kept me up to date as he was going through them giving me lots of options because he knew I was on a budget.

Kudo's to John and the Bravo Shop!!!

www.bravoshop.net

+1... John has all the early issues with the Bmax worked out and keeps making improvements to the drives.. He really has turned the Bmax around and drive is a serious player in todays market as a tough bolt-on bravo replacement.

+2 on John being just an all around great guy.

I do not even own a B-Max drive, but because of having over 1000 ft/lbs of torque on a single engined v-hull, I have unfortunately become quite adept at rebuilding XR based outdrives. I now have pieced together a complete SCX drive from the used classifiedes that I am quite happy with.

John put in a lot of time with me to explain how to set up my bravo based drives to try to make them live.

I have purchased my bravo parts from him, and am now using his specially blended Neo oil, with great results.

He has always been extremely patient with me during his explanations, and always picks up his phone.

When I get ready to purchase a new boat in the future...there will be a B-Max attached to it.

Thank you John....for being such a great guy and a pleasure to work with.

Chris

theyre great drives, now they have a great owner that cares about the product, i ran a pair that ron bender built and he had mine where they shifted with one finger easy in and out, when i get back on my feet i will have another pair on the back of my boat.

I thought I had read you have to run the B-Max lower with the B-Max upper due to the shaft size fitting in the upper.

You can put any bravo style lower on as long as you install a Bmax vert shaft.

Thanks Jeff enjoy your boat!!

Going to be hitting the water for the first time with the Bmax HT tomorrow. I can tell you after be inside the upper drive there is a lot more beef up there to handle extra horsepower. Running it on the hose so far it shifts great.
Anyone sharpen the leading edge of the crescent lower skeg? It is very wide and blunt (flat) and does not seem like it will cut through the water and may cause slip. Was going to round the edge similar to the Bravo, any thoughts John or ?

I have sharpened them rounded them and haven't seen any difference on the BT, on a single engine boat I'm sure it would help.

I'll try it like it is for several weekends then give it a good edge and let you know if I see any change.
Thanks for your input.