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

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