First Drive Failure, Swinging for the Fence
 

For background info 2005 Formula Fastech 353, 525EFI, XR drives, 28P 5 Blade Maximus, with ITS. Our boat has 311 hours on it, we purchased it January 2013 with 260ish hours, 1 previous owner. Boat always would chatter getting on plane whether it was a slow gradual feed or pushing it a little harder but never high RPM. Sent props to BBlades over the winter and Brent dialed out the chatter and we only lost 1.5 MPH off top speed. We were cruising along on the second leg of LEOPA Thunderfest and the boat went into a neutral, it took me a few seconds to gather myself off the dash and get situated boat kicked back in and that's when you really hear the coffee grinder at full tilt.

Reason I bring up the chatter and my fix, is it possible the gears were just weak or beat over time from that condition? The people who owned the boat before us had kids and idled for nearly 200hrs on a river and when they did use the boat it was in the very low RPM range.

Anyway, the drive is broke and replacing with a whole new unit. Do I get some kind of Bravo "kill" sticker or at least a smiley face for the fridge?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdMtd2npM8

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Damn sweet video, u were eatin that chit up, til boom,

Thank you, doing my part to make sure Merc employees stay employed.

Atleast you beat the other boat in the video.

5 blades on XR's are a grenade waiting to happen. Just talked to a buddy today with the same boat, he went through 4 drives with the 5 blades before switching to a 4 blade(not sure pitch but think 32's) and no problems since.

Agreed...you were moving along nicely before it went boom. How fast does that thing go with 525s.

Consistent 83 MPH with occasional 84. The 84s were before I had BBlades work the props to eliminate the chatter getting on plane. It runs out well, not the fastest 35' out there but it fits what we need it to do.

You should get a sticker for making a bravo XR last 311 hrs!

Time to tear down the other one as well.

Kind of ruins your day doesn't it ?

I've had the pleasure of experiencing that twice....at least the 2nd time wasn't on my boat.

With XR's, your new drive may last a while, or the gears may start falling apart real soon...I've seen it go both ways.

Thanks for the video, at least now I know what to listen for when mine go.

I can tell you from experience the next time I have anything that even sounds like a drive failure I am pulling the lanyard. Most of the damage comes after the break, leaving it running, in or out of gear while you assess costs you the case.

Popped my first one last weekend too... Almost 500 hours on XZs, I guess I can't be too mad!

...amazing how much farther put in bay is from the ramp at 5 MPH :lolhit:

Dang, that is a good/bad vid. You ...were.... smoking the other guys for a few. I cringed when the sound changed. Yikes. KS

We were cruising along on the second leg of LEOPA Thunderfest

so, at 20 seconds on the video, you pass the other two boats that were running on plane, and max 20 seconds later, so at 40 of the video, we can't see them anymore, because you were at cruising speed catching some air a couple times...

man! how fast are you going when you are more than cruising !!! :) :) :)

4bus - Now I know what the sound is and lanyard gets pulled asap, first time is sort of shocking

RT - Its a long, lonely ride isn't it? " how much is this going to cost, did I hit anything...." lots of questions going thru your mind. I got up to 8.6 mph after , GPS of course.

KS - When it got loud I could feel the knocking in the floor, I couldn't hear the start of it over the exhaust

Jeff32 - I always tell my co-pilot we are just "cruising", not going fast. Makes for a happy household. :whistle:

That's my line :lolhit:

You got 300 + hours on an 80 mile an hour boat, so your good to go for seasons to come! Boo yah!:drink:

I had to pull the lanyard at speed one time on my boat years ago. Was running WOT and the throttle cable became disconnected. :eek: Had no choice but to kill power to the motor. I steered hard the opposite way to try to keep my wake from swamping us. Still, the way that engine dieseled at that speed made me sure that I hydrolocked it. I pulled all the plugs after it cooled down and spun it over once just to be sure. Would hate to try that with the cam I have in it now.

Wow! Awesome video but that sound is way to familiar, I lost a TRS last year while "cruising" at 70mph. It made such noise and shuttered so hard I thought the back of the boat ripped off! The first thing I checked was if water was pouring into the bilge as I thought for sure I lost a u-joint. I limped home on one engine and this is what I found when I pulled the boat.... Yikes!

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...psf6a14816.jpg
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I have the exact same setup, 2005 with ITS and it has always chattered a bit when getting on plane. I bought the boat with 78 hours on it, and have over 200 now. Ever notice anything on the magnets when you changed the oil? I don't, just wondering if you saw any signs.

Well I have been listening for the tell tale sounds of a drive going and didn't hear a thing. I was cruising along at 70 and my wife gave me the wave to pour on the coals so I did, almost hit 80 and the boat died. My wife looked at me and said, "why did you do that". I said I didn't, the drive died, out in the middle of Lake Huron with nobody around except for a tug pulling a barge. I called Boat US and they never called back, so I called 911 and they sent out a tow company. Cost me $625 to get towed 4 miles back to the harbor. Now I need to pull the drive apart and fix it. Any recommendations on where to get detailed information on lash and shims?

every time ive blown a drive there is a massive hole in the bottom gearcase where the gear exploded

Sounds just like mine. No blown case or metal in the oil. The foward gear separated from the shift collar that holds it in gear. Several people tell me this happens because Mercury welds this on the gear. Mr Gagets on here is great source of information.

The nut backed off on the input shaft gear. . . . . . . . .

Mine went BANG when the case broke, then it made the funky noises like yours.

http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/x...pscace0ed5.jpg
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Zero signs, change the oil every 20-25 hrs since I owned it.

Guess we joined the "club". This winter I am going to have the starboard drive gone thru and buy a back up drive. Don't need the down time or headaches in such a short season on Lake Erie

Your more knowledgeable than I when it comes to drive internals.

ThisisLivin,

If your upper case is broken like ours then buy a new, old style, upper from Victory Marine. They take them out of the box and hard shim the input shaft bearings.

Fortunately the case is intact, I am assuming the upper gears are toast as the oil came out a grey metallic color. I have decided to send the drive to All American to have George rebuild it, they get $6500 and I get a drive beefed up to handle 700hp and a 24 month warranty. The parts alone from MAX were more than that and a stock rebuild won't hold up anyway. I will also be upgrading my tow package to unlimited.

Have you looked at sending it to Teague?

I did call Teague and they wanted to sell me a new drive, I think they were just shy of $10k. I also don't believe they offer a 24 month warranty. I pulled the covers off last night and it looks like the only damage is the gears have shed some teeth. AAD does the full steel tower with better bearings and X gears along with Cryogenic treatment and REM polishing.

If you end up going with All American please keep us posted for future reference.