Bravo XR / iTS drives at close to 300 hours -- what to do?
 

As the title says, I have Bravo XR / ITS drives and I'm close to 300 hours, 180 of those are from me and other than gear oil changes every 50 hours, no other servicing has been done. I want to do some preventative maintenance on them this winter.

What should be done?

Surprised you got 300. Also, what oil do you use to go 50 hours? I change mine with Amsoil Severe Gear every 20 hours with the engine oil and at 180 hours one gear was starting to pit.

Been using the plain old Merc. High performance gear lube. Changed every 50 hours. Never any metal in the oil. No signs of any other problems although when I was winterizing, I thought I heard the center engine driveshaft knocking when I first started the engine but then it seemed to go away. Didn't spend a lot of time on it though. Figured I'd deal with that in the spring.

With that many hours, take them apart and inspect them. I would think gears bearings and seals will be needed. The gears will probably have pits in them, and if they do, replace them. Once they start to pit, its not long before they go boom.There is nothing wrong with the Merc Hi perf gear lube. Some people will tell you different, but I use it, but change it around 30 hours if I am running hard.

Normally with triples the load is shared and the drives actually last longer, but I would say yours are one of the good sets! Lucky dog!

Whoever you have inspect them make sure they don't start replacing parts for fun. There's no reason to replace gears that haven't started pitting, because the new set might be even worse and pit within a few hours.

Part of me says just freshen them BEFORE they break, but the other half says leave them since they are not showing signs of wear. It really comes down to reading the magnets sometimes, but that requires looking every 20 hrs or so.

One option is leave them alone untill you see tiny metal shavings on the magnet. Not dust that disappears when rubbed between your fingers, but slivers the size of a wood splinter are a bad sign.

When it comes time to freshen the shop that takes them apart will Inspect and recommend what's needed.

Dicks performance Marine " Mr gadgets"
All American drive service
The bravo shop

All have great reviews

John at the Bravo Shop told me to leave them alone unless you see signs of trouble (metal on the magnets, burnt fluid, etc.).

I like that option.

I agree with the above 100%.

With 300 hrs though, I would look for a complete spare drive.
That way when one does let go, it'll only be a couple hours of downtime instead of a couple weeks.

Hyfive, its winter time now. So now is the time to take care of the drives. Could you get 50 more hours on them? Maybe, but what happens when they do go during the peek season. Then you will wish you did them now. Missing time in the summer is priceless.