I have the opportunity to purchase a brand new from mercury XR case and top cap for 1000 bucks....question is can I run XZ gears in the XR case?? reason being I've heard a lot of people disappointed after the switch to XR gears and I don't want to spend all that money on gears to find out I don't like them....I've heard good things about the XZ gears so if they will fit I will probably go that route..Also I've heard the XR case is better than a standard bravo hence the basis for this thought to begin with...which begs the question...is it worth the 1000 bucks to "upgrade" to this case??

Thanks

Stewart

The X,XZ and XR all use the same case, it will be an upgrade if you have a std bravo.... the gears will fit, X and XZ upper gears are the same thing.

Awesome thanks!! That'll be the plan then...XR case with XZ gears....should be a good upgrade over my stock 97 bravo hahaha

I don't know why anyone would be disappointed switching to XR gears. They are stronger.

I have a buddy that did the swap on his active thunder and he complains of gear noise and a loss of speed...idk if he's 100% accurate on that however its not the first I've heard of a loss of speed after the switch...never had experience with them so I don't really know

Stewart

I replaced the standard Bravo drives on my boat with XR's and saw no difference in speed, if anything it is a bit faster.

Like I said I'm just going off of what I was told..have no real world experience with XR stuff so who knows lol

XR's definitely make a whistling gear noise.

^^^^ even a certain rpms it more pronounced - its the cut of the gears for that high pitch whistle persay noise

years ago the Alpha gen 2 at 3500 rpm would have this same loud persay whistle / whine noise. When we first heard it in the industry - we thought something was wrong with the latest Alpha Gen 2 at that timeframe. It was normal and was told by Merc tech services that the new gears the way they were cut caused the whistle harmonic noise.

I probably wouldn't hear it over the blower whine anyway however can anyone confirm a loss of speed just from going to XR gears?? I have also been told that the XZ gears have 2 gears contacting at the same time and the XRs only have one and in this gentlemans opinion the XZs are better?? idk what to do really lol!!

Stewart