Ssm drive power limits
 

Since we've had a couple threads going on, about the speedmaster drives, helping educate guys on what they are, what they measure, when they were made, and so forth. I'd like to start a thread though, about personal experiances with them. Like how much power you put to them, with or without failure, what failed, etc. My experiances with these drives are

38 Fountain. SSM #4 small shaft drives. 240 hours on them currently. 175 hours with 650HP engines, last 65 with 800HP engines. No failures.....yet. (my boat).

Friends boats.

1986 38 Flatdeck Cig. 600HP 540's. Standard #3's. I think around 10 seasons on them since rebuilt.

39 Aronow Cat. 625HP engines, standard #3's. Not sure on hours, but been on boat since the late 90's. No breakage.

41 Apache. 750HP 598's. #3A drives. Unsure on hours, but also been on boat a long time. No breakage

1986 38 Flatdeck. Past 4 seasons with 800HP engines and 3A's. Prior to that, 4 or 5 more seasons with 600-650HP engines, no breakage.

All the above boats used on lake michigan, and do see some rough water. Who else wants to share their SSM 3,4,5, experiances? :cool-smiley-027:

Ssm 3's on 38 Flatdeck with n/a 800's only failure was due to water intrusion. 8 hours after rebuild fine, same drives swapped on to 40 hawk 5 hours later there still good lol.
Soon to be swapped onto a 40 fountain.

1989 straight bottom Cig. no notch 588 N/A #3 SSM 1:33/1 small shaft 19 spline run 5 yrs no issues. wrap fisherman's wire line around output shaft it fail. same boat several years later num-nut "in and out" rack storage fork truck operator lifts boat up under drive it fail. Drives r great till they get violated. . :faint2: . IIIA and 5's rated @ 750HP & 750 torque. 3's and 4's are less.

Does anyone have pictures of these drives? I'm not sure what they look like.

I always wondered how much additional power does it take to run 3A's vs. Bravo's and Bmax's? For example, there's a nice looking 1993 42' fountain (except swim platform mod) with stock HP500's and V's got me thinking....what would that run with bravo's vs. these?


http://www.lakeozarksmarine.com/show...&submit=Search

abmotorman, if your looking for a Fountain that sure is a nice set up and if it was staggered it would really be the nuts. put some big super charged engines in it down the road "so to speak" like it used to have.

well next,they whole boat should not be watching me jump a fishing boat wake.:DI added the hp for you

That is a sweet boat. I'd rather have it with 5's than bravos. Lotta room to upgrade power with 0 drive worries.

1986 Flatdeck, 800hp 540`s Big shaft #4`s
Lasted 2 hours.

95 scarab 38 SC 588cid 950hp SSM V .....I ran them hard!!! With 18 x 30 4 blade speedy props. I'm not super quick on the throttals so they got beat on pretty well. No issues I ran Amsoil sever gear in them and changed 1 time. 0 ISSUES boat weight was a touch under 11,000 lbs

They lasted 2 hours once in your possession. :faint2:

Just to be clear, these drives came off a boat that had about a dozen offshore races on them, prior to them needed rebuilds. Came off a 40ft vee with big sterling power that was ran hard.

32' fountain 900scs #3As 5 years with the sticks welded to the dash!! NOT ONE FAILURE!!! then refresh just because... then my cat 32' active same 900scs again driven like I stole it.. now same drives on my 43' Scarab with yet more power 1100scs.. 3 yrs running no failures... again they will be gone thru this year only because of routine maintenance... air time is what kills a drive quicker than anything else, secondly would be improper planing technique which is also brutal on the transmission... as for Mercury's rating.. the specs are conservative to say the least.. they were more interested in seeing the drive survive than testing its limitations... everyone I know who has speedy's has put them to "THE TEST" and never experienced problems

I'm sure Eddy will tell you that boat was the TITZ!! when it had the blower motors in it

I still don`t get why after the rebuilts and driving like a puss I see shavings on the magnets every time I check em/drain em. If I drove like AL they`d be back at Collabella . wtf.. both drives too and I`m not talking about the $hit that turns into mush when you rub it between your fingers I`m talking about slivers of metal.

I Fuc&$ en hate boats

Danny... put a prop on and rock it back and forth... how much free play (backlash) do you feel in lower unit?

As stated in the first post 800's 3A's 86 flat deck on Lake Michigan.

nice

# 3 and 4 were rated to 700 racing HP #5 s were rated to 800 efi racing. If the drive was built right it will last ! we have pleasure boats running 1000 to1200 all day long with no problems

it will be faster with the bravos only because they take less power to drive, but that boat with the 5s should be repowered with at least a pair of 850s then you'd have a boat!!!

and there you have it folks!! THE GURU has spoken!!! Dan Macnamara/ Team Archer!!!

Sorry to but in but does anyone have a right hand #2?

get rid of them and put 3s on it... you wont be sorry

I have a pair of #2s a right and left I believe the left has some problems

Email sent

Timmy I MAY have you a set of 3s by the end of the week. I will let you know.