Bought a Frankenstein XR Drive - what is it?
 

I have a 25' Powerplay with a carb HP500. Stock Bravo 1 with a OL.... something serial number. I bought the boat this summer.

I blew the upper gears apart, BADLY.... there's at least 6-7 teeth gone, and plenty more nicked up. The oil came out of the drive worse than a hydrostreams metallic paint, along with some chunks every once in awhile.

So I've been shopping for used drives for about 2 months since it happened and found a Bravo XR from a marine business that claimed the drive was pressure and vacuum checked. They seemed nice and knowledgeable on the phone, it was a SWEEEEET deal, so I went through with it. I got the drive today and I don't know much of anything, but I was expecting something exciting but I don't even know what I was looking for. It had Bravo One XR red stickers on the upper, but it looks the same as my blown up destroyed Bravo 1 (except my B1 that I blew up had a dual water pickup and this "alleged XR" I bought only has the upper side type pickups.)

so the serial number on the drive is OKO93731 - which showed it is a 1997 Bravo 1 from a Sonic with twin 454s....

so obviously it's not a born XR... is it possible someone internally upgraded it to a XR? how would I know? I opened the top cover because forum searches say something about straight gears versus curved gears although I would love to be visually shown the difference.... the lower unit has a 1" shaft.... so it must be a B1 lower, right? is it possible I have a XR upper with a B1 lower and someone threw stickers on it to document that?

BTW, these are all old style NON-sweptback drives...

Shibby,
Pull the top cap and take a picture of it. We can tell from that picture if is XR or X or thin floored gears by what you see under the top cap.
It is possible someone installed a set of XR gears in a standard B1 case. Like you said, it was not born an XR. But it could be an upgrade. Show us a pic.. we can help you determine what you have.

Dick

Thanks so much! I will post a picture up first thing in the morning when I get to work, as that is where the drive is.

Steve

http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2qlkqrlp.jpg

http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3vy6pnck.jpg

http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3vy6pnck.jpg

Shibby,
I hate to say it, but the pics indicate the old style thin floored helical gears.. not XR. The bearings inside the gears have been changed to caged bearings. It is still just a B1...
Sorry for bad news!

Dick

I thank you very much for your knowledge and expertise! Thank you for following up with me, you are an asset to the forum for sure.

Thank You!! I just feel bad you ended up with a drive that was not as advertised! :(

is it worth going to cage bearings?

Titan,
the reason people went to a caged bearing is they are suppose to run cooler. But if you look at the load ratings, the caged is rated less, it has less needles in it. I don't care for the caged bearings for that reason. I have not had problems with the uncaged bearings..
Hope that hepls.
Dick

That sucks, where did you get it from? Sorry to hear you were taken, hope it was cheap

Was it this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/mercruiser-b...p2047675.l2557

I thought something was fishy when the lower had the standard bravo 1 style prop hardware. Hopefully you paid with paypal and you can open a case up.

Just another example of why things with internal moving parts are not worth crap used . IMO. Just as many times as I hear someone got what they paid for, I hear the opposite. Tough to buy engines and drives. Sorry for being pessimistic.

Can you tell everyone who this ass clown is so they know not buy from him please.
My personal opinion i like the bevel cut gears better than xr gears. I had a 825 hp engine on a 29 scarab and used a standard bravo upper, shot peened the gears and never had any issues.

Yes it was the one in the ebay link above. Spoke to guy on phone before buying. He actually seemed very knowledgeable and is a super nice guy. I called him immediately after getting the drive and he wad unaware of the misbadging of the drive but said no problem he will take it back and he probably has whatever I'm looking for. I don't think he knowingly screwed me but I did pay thru paypal and ebay to cover myself.

There are bravo drives so cheap locally everywhere and for 1800 bucks for that xr seemed like a deal! Oh well. I will return it or suggest a reasonable credit for it being a stock bravo 1 since either way I need a drive.

Go for a B1 X drive. It has all the good parts in it, except the 1" prop shaft. They used to make an XZ drive with the large propshaft and people kept breaking them, thinking they were bullet proof. So the dropped back to the 1" shaft and call it the B1 X.. My theroy has always been, if you dont have enought power to break the teeth off the helical gears, then run them instead of the XRs!
Good to hear he is willing to work with you. Good luck!
Dick

definitely not XR