No kidding! It you guys want to put this product to the test, let this guy on the sticks have at it for a couple of hours!!! If he can't break a bravo nobody can!!! :eek:

He does have it on his boat! see post #35
and the comments on the vid:

i do not know the guy who is making the driveguard units and i have no experiance with them but imo this unit will prolong the life of a bravo style drive because the torque spikes that a bravo sees upon reentry is a parts killer.mercury marine limits the use of a bravo style drive to the sc600 and under and i know a few guys that destroy these drives with 525s in their boats.i am not saying that this unit will allow you to put a 900hp supercharged engine in front of a bravo and stop the drive failure,nothing is going to do that but i do believe it will extend the life of the drive in an application where the drive leaves&reenters the water with any frequency..

Had a DriveGuardian for entire OPA season. Didn't have any drive failure that DriveGuardian could have prevented. Because of the frequency of the waves (at Atlantic City where the video was shot) I was unable to get into any rhythm because they were all short hops that by the time the prop spun and then bit again, it was too late to pull back. Beacause we were racing, we had to keep going, even though I wouldn't suggest anyone run their boat like that. The piece of mind of having the DriveGuardian did make it bearable to keep hearing the rpm spikes.

The first set of pictures is our pinion gear from 2013, it has 3 races on it. No Drive Guardian.
The second set of pics is the pinion from this year, same side, same drive. 5 races with the Drive Guardian. I assure you we ran just as hard, coming second in points and winning another World Championship. Same props, same engines. It does have some wear, hence the sheen to it, but no big dents or dings from impact like the first one. Fantastic results.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa52be8fe.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...psd152d448.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps28d08862.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps02172db1.jpg

Second set

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps98604e6a.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa6ed8822.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...psc53506a2.jpg

Happy to snap some more if needed.

Nice post johnny... Would like to try a set myself.
Funny that everyone has the money to just "get rid of bravos and slap on 'real' drives!"... Not every has an extra 30k for scx's!

Each DriveGuardian is calibrated for a specific engine / drive combination.

GF?

so are upgrade to higher tq capacity an upcharge?like my engine goes from 600hp to 800hp?

I think this is Great !! It really is great that these guys are trying to innovate products to make our hobby a little bit more fun and a little less hurt on the wallet. Now, not to derail off the Drive Gaurdian but has anyone used the Drive Sync ? I NEED THAT !!!!!!! I want one NOW....... My one complaint about my boat is I need three hands to trim and drive. Especially at high speed.... My drives are always moving at different speeds and that device is EXACTLY what i need..... where do i order and who has used one ?

http://www.marinedesigncorp.com/drivesync.html

I wouldn't think so. It looks like it's nothing more that a multi-disk clutch pack so all you'd have to do is tighten or loosen the stack to adjust the friction so they slip at a predetermined level. The design looks very simple and honestly it's so simplistic and obvious that I SMH that I didn't think of it, lol!

Congrats to Mike, it looks like a great product and I'm sure it works as intended (if properly set) to some degree! :cool:

More than "to some degree", at least on our setup. It's a win/loose difference for us, especially in big water. All it takes is one hard landing to chip a gear and bada boom....we lose.

I am liking this product. Have a 30' cat with high x and 750ish hp a side with xr uppers on boxes. Had to rebuild both drives last season. Maybe this will help them live longer. When planning I have blowout and grab scenarios with 5 blades so I'm sure that's not easy on the uppers and shafts

I'm sure it will help, especially being on a cat, with high X-Dimensions.

Cool product. The physics behind it seem to make sense, the two gripes I have are:

1. Cost. Seems like to get a twin bravo setup is in excess of 5k. This doesn't include the cost to remove engines and install. That's a lot of dough and a tough pill to swallow as this product is considered preventive maintenance.

2. While I'm sure the product works, in essence you have added another wear item. As I understand it correctly it would have to get replaced every 6-7 years depending on engine rebuilds. Although I'm sure the cost to rebuild the drive guardian is cheaper, the product doesn't fix the fact that straight cut gears wear regardless of reduced loads or not. In approximately 150-200 hours the gears likely need to be replaced any way as a result of friction and contact forces. So the consumer is out 5k for the guardian and another 2-3k for bravo gears. for me I rather take the chance on gears save my 5k for the next 150 hr rebuild

Actually, the cost for a twin Bravo setup is just under $5K. I think most people would be installing them at engine rebuild time, or if there was another failure such as a blown coupler that required pulling the engines. DriveGuardian replaces the stock rubber couplers which are wear items, cannot be rebuilt, and typically get replaced with each engine rebuild. BTW, a pair of stock rubber couplers with steel hubs cost $1,560 which is significantly less but not exactly cheap either.

DriveGuardian does not require any routine maintenance and can be completely rebuilt but most applications are not likely to ever need it. Each torque-spike will cause the clutch to slip less than one revolution before it is suppressed and the clutch re-engages. By comparison, that wear is a tiny fraction of what the clutch in a car at rush hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic experiences. And automotive clutches last for tens of thousands of miles. In addition, DriveGuardian uses Kevlar friction material that lasts 3-5 times longer than the materials commonly found in automotive clutches and brake linings.

No doubt, all gears will experience wear but I think the point of DriveGuardian is to have a drive last long enough to actually wear it out instead of having to replace broken parts. If that isn't an issue for your application then saving you money for new gears is a good plan.

GF?

Just brought our drive up to Saris Racing Engines to be checked over before the start of the OPA season. Gears, shafts and bearings are all in great condition. They don't show any more wear than you would find in normal use. Of course, we are not a candidate for normal use. Would recommend the Drive Guardian to anyone looking to protect their drives under extreme use.