TRS part availability ????????
 

Are TRS drive parts readily available? Does anyone make special/hardened gears for them?

I am contemplating buying a boat that has TRS but I don't want to get hung on drive issues with parts etc.

Never seen any special hardened gears but the stock gears are still availiable from merc. Wouldn't say all parts are readily availiable as if you could walk in and buy them. Usually you can find any part though if you know where to look. Lot of parts for them on ebay. You see complete drives around all the time for sale. I keep a spare drive on hand and have another in parts in case I need any. I've always been able to find what I need somewhere. Check through the parts here and see whats marked as NLA.
http://www.perfprotech.com/mercruise...4794900-and-up
What engine?

They were the HO 454's but they have been stroked so the output is the same or better than a 500EFI.


If I get this one I think I will keep more drives and gears on hand.

Trs's
 

Great folks here in Capri coral fl, especially for vintage parts.
Marine performance specialties run by don and donnie jr. He has no less than 150 or more sitting around on racks....some great, some good. No junk.....and great guys....they don't put the boat tax on anything...

I had 2 spare TRS drive for my 357 I bought in 2005... unfortunatly (LOL!), sold the boat in 2011, never broke a drive, and I still have those 2 spares sleeping in my garage... and I never listed them! just in case...

who knows if ever I buy another TRS boat!

SEI responded to my email and said they don't have anything but they mentioned www.dougrussellmarine.com I called them up and they have some things like shafts and gears which I guess would be the most frequently broken items.

I will check on the one you mentioned too. Sounds like there is still enough stuff around to make a TRS boat repairable.

Thanks for your info too.

Great to know and thanks for posting. If I get this boat I will keep tabs on drives and parts as well as have spares to work with. As long as I can boat it is all good. Sometimes it works out that when I keep a spare item the original never fails. That worked out for my Toronado Trofeo with the touch screen in the dash. Now I still have a back up but I sold the car. :lolhit:

What made you buy it? What made you sell it? How did you like the TRS?
Can you recall/estimate how much room was between the engines and the seat back? I wonder about installing a gen set in it.
Do you recall how much headroom is in the cabin of the 357? I have a 242LS and wondered if the headroom of a 357 is more or the same.

i think with trs you are better off just buying spare drives and having them gone through if youre really that worried about it, or just have the drives on the boat rebuilt when you buy it and you shouldnt have a problem.

With any of these drives i think one of the major problems is that when you do blow a drive from my experience 1/2 the time it destroys the case, so you are going to be looking for used drives anyway to replace the case

plenty of parts out there . mel riggs of riggs marine says hes got 300 of them drives n parts galore

can't remember exactly but either 48 inches or 52 inches head room. I have an excel sheet somewhere with many different measurement I took on different type of boats... will check to find out!

for what it is worth... the only picture I have from a project 357 I had with the gen mounted right in front of both engines... I would say you have roughly 2 feet wide in front of engines up to the back seat. I remember I could lay back just like in my bed, in front of the engines... one of the best boat to work in engine compartment!!!

Very true.."

I can lay down on the back side of the tank in front of the motors before the seat back and roll around. Plenty of room for Jenny.

6' and 225 and the only thing that I have to do is turn my head to the side below.

My bad...it's offshore performance specialties.....and again....they rock.

That pic looks like the gen does not stick through the back of the seat. On the 382 and 353 the gen is through the back and partly under the seat. Was this a factory install?

The sunpad/engine cover must be kind of long too. Kind of like a triple engine cover. :lolhit:

Thanks for all the info guys. This is very helpful. Looks like a 357 is a good candidate for me too.

the one big NLA part is the lower case, as catalyst said. used ones are getting cheaper as need for thrm is falling off. they are tough. last a long time. the bravo is NOT an improvement in strength, it is an improvement in cockpit room cuz you don't have 14 inches of trans behind the motor pushing it into the back seat...

I think to pick up some spares and have them for back-ups. I agree the TRS is more resilient than a bravo from what I read and I would feel fine running them as long as I know I always can. I noticed the list of NLA parts so that tells me what to get.

Does anyone make a drive shower for TRS?

I'm sure I can custom make some if I have to.

You don't need one. A TRS has somewhat of a pump which keeps the lube circulating from top to bottom when ever it's in gear.

My Mistress has even more room, it's insane I have over 3 ft from front of engines to the back seat bulkhead... I never saw so much room, makes life real good for wrenchin..!!

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0ea08e8c.jpg

iv rebuilt plenty of trs drives for customers including my own 4 drives,they dont like blower motors much over 700 hp..what we have found is that the newer forward and pinion gears appear to be much weaker in strenght and break more often.if you can find some much older gears you will be better off..i switched to the bullet proof konrads,uped the hp and havent had a single problem..so there are options for you out there..

WOW, an oil circulation pump!!!!!! Seriously? Like a VOLVO drive? That is way too cool. I didn't know the TRS had that feature but I really like that.

So why has Merc cheated everyone of this same ability in the Bravo series? That seems so short sided as far as a "quality" product. If Merc did it for the TRS then there was no excuse, that I can think of, to leave it off their other drives. Must have been one of those "over engineered" things that "we are loosing money on" according to the analyst dept so Brunswick corp can make the big $$$$$$ and the customer has to cool the drive on their own nickel. :eekdrop: :angry-smiley-038: :daz:

Is the Konrad swap a plug and play thing or does that require the transom assembly to change too?

The engines in the boat in question are stroked but it is not really tough. They put tappet cams in with a fairly mild profile so they are only up to 500HP. If I did something to it I would run all roller valve train with more cam and fuel inject these things for better power. I would not run over 600HP so the TRS should be fine by what you have observed.

id like to chime in here ,the trs does not have an oil pump as you are thinking,but what it does have is a sort of metal slinger about 5/16 diameter rod wrapped around the short coupler and welded to it the coupler is the part that connects the upper and lower gearcases together and helps to move oil around,i dont suspect its much different than the gears moving it around..when you add spacers in between the cases the connector that you use then doesnt have this feature and the drives work just as well,torque kills drives,no matter how much you move the oil around

So then they could benefit from exterior cooling?

All it is is a piece of round stock which spirals around the verticle shaft coupler between the upper and lower. Kinda works like a screw moving the lube.There is a second large passage between the upper and lower so it can return.

Get a 357, add a Jenny, keep the drive lube monitor full and run em.

Except for the 10/15% loss through the borgs, I could not be happier. There is a plethora of parts available and the Konrad solution later

cooling has never been an issue,no shower needed..run and have fun
overanalyze takes the fun out of boating.................

:lolhit: I am quite a detail oriented guy. As a tech I am hard pressed to make sure the "I's" are dotted and the "T's" are crossed. When I leave the dock I have every intention of returning with my own power and I diligently do my homework to make sure that happens....long or short run. You got me pegged, I am anal about getting the tech stuff right. When I turn the key and leave the dock it is full reward for my efforts and I don't worry one bit about it. :whistle:

Thanks for the info and I will try to not over analyze. :lolhit:

I follow you. At several thousand rpm's I guess that little spiral should circulate pretty well then. If they don't have heat problems then it is effective enough. Sounds like a strong reason why they are rotation specific so the spiral is rotating in the right direction.
I like it.

Here's what you would be looking at Aqua. Coupler connects upper and lower vertical shafts. It actually pushes the lube down from the top and it returns back up through another passage.

Oh yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Nice device. So can the coupler be put in either way? Can it circulate in either direction?

Are the props the same as a bravo for fitment?

Yes it can go in either way, the spirling will still be the same. Only circulates in one direction, that's down. Vertical shafts all turn the same direction. Left and right hand rotation is determined past this point on the propeller shaft.

Props are all the same, TRS, Bravo, Alpha. At least for the most part.

OK, great and thanks.
I have some B1 props I was thinking to sell but now I will hold on to them until I have the boat dialed in good.