Merc 6 Drive Question
 

Maintenance schedule,other than gear lube,and or refurb cost with 1100hp

So I guess these things last forever,thats great,the silence leads me to believe no one ever has trouble with these drives!

we had them last about 5-6 years with 300 hours on a 38 Larry Smith Scarab with 1000HP N/A pleasure boat then we had to do lower gears and prop shafts

Thank you for the reply.

[QUOTE=Team Archer;4509669]we had them last about 5

How many CI where these engines? Please share. Thanks Love the NA stuff

I think most people with #6s just pay to have them freshend, rebuilt, serviced etc. without writing on OSO, unlike all of us who have had the bravo blues.....

I don't have any personal experience but do believe they are rated for 1200hp, with many boats running 1800-2000 thru them, which will drastically reduce their life. I have many friends that have needed to rebuild them though, and sometimes more often then most would hope. Others have 200-300+ hours on them.

Overall they are obviously a good drive, but just like the engines that are in front of them they need freshening.

TNT, Coabella, West Coast Outdrives all charge about $1000-1500 labor to rebuild a drive. Parts can add up to over $10,000 per drive, and lets not forget about transom assemblys and gimbals, another $1500 in labor plus thousands in parts. It adds up really fast if they are worn out.

New #6 Drive and Transom assembly is around 50K a side.

Are you upgrading from your -4?

Not looking to upgrade so far my set up has been great,a friend is looking to build something so I was just curious,thanks for the reply

[QUOTE=14 apache;4509702]They are 598CI Merlin blocks with raised cams and Big Chief cylinder heads Kinsler Injection they started life as a set of Eickert class one motors that we have upgraded over the years .
[ATTACH=CONFIG]562730[/ATTACH]

I just pulled a set off a boat with serial numbers in the 000900 range. Late 90's models I'm guessing, but defiantly early production run. Was on a 12k lb boat with 950SC's most of thier life. We cleaned them up and repainted, but never cracked them open. Only issues I found was a gimbal ring crack through a hinge pin bolt hole. Very common issue I've been told, most just never notice it. And at $3500 for that ring, I'd not look too hard next time...

[QUOTE=Team Archer;4509855]Thanks for posting can you post more pictures. That was a cool motor.