Lost outdrive yesterday running at 5400 rpms, loud bang and oil on back of boat, I presume the upper geat went, must have crack something to spray oil. Boat on lift haven't pulled boat off of water to inspect. Trying to decided, have this rebuilt, replace with other drive? Running a single 525 on 29' boat, I really was thinking about installing whipple this winter. How about BMAX, Opinions appreciated.

a friend of mine had the same thing only when coming out of the hole ,your upper is either cracked or it have lifted the top cap do to a broke teeth .

the b max is stronger drive and bolt on on your gimbal I thought they waranty it for 800 hp on a 10000lbs boat and the guy who runs the bravo shop is a real stand up guy that knows his product .

Don't install a whipple of you will continue to have drive problems but MORE OFTEN!

If you do install a whipple you really need one of these drives

Arneson Bravo conversion
Imco SCX-4 (not proven yet)
Imco SCX has stronger upper and lower gears (best choice IMO)
BMax has stronger upper gears with XR lower gears still
X-Power (expensive)
Konrad (not strong enough IMO)

Good luck, these Bravo blues suck

What did your friend go back with? Looks like I busted the upper housing where it holds the input bearing.

I have Bmax and think its a tough drive. I will be slower than a bravo but i agree if I were going to upgrade power I would plan on doing my drive too.

IMO keep the boat stock and if you want to go faster buy a boat that is already doing the speed you want

Can believe all the mercury XR drive problems people are having. I would think a 525 with xr would last more the 80hrs. I suppose the bigger drive would scrub off a couple mph?

If you want to keep your drive then consider copntacting the bravo shop. John has some new internals that should help a bravo last longer. On top of that he is awesome to work with!

He is towed back in the marina and after open up the drive back in the shop we discovered the broken theet between the gears have pulled the 4 bolts out of the upper due to the gear was pushed up after that it droped between the cone clutch .but the upper is still in one peace only need new gear and new thread for the top cab .

he s switching to 2 engines

The imco seems to be the way to go, I keep talking to more and more people who have broken Konrads, the b-max would be my second choice but the lower gears are still the weak point, Smitty

I decided to go back with new XR drive at this time, is there any upgrades I can do to the drive before installed. Just wanting to make it last as long as I can for now.