replaced my B2 X drives with the new B2 XR diesel drives. Changed ratio from 1.81 to 1.65 and dropped the props from 22 to 19s. Performance is about the same but I was getting 200 hours between changes on Neo oil. It would look like new when it came out. Now, the oil is black in the reservoir after 20 hrs. The paint is also showing signs of heat. Seems to be worse on the counter rotator. Do the xr gears run that much hotter? My dealer doesn’t have an answer and I don’t trust the drives.

I have drive showers and if anything, I’m underpropped from where I was with the other drives. I’m about 2 knots or so slower than with the other drives that showed no signs of heat. Any other ideas? Thanks

I sent 47 pounds of failed XR upper gears to BUP on here, he had a gear guru analyze them and one thing that was noted was that they appeared to be getting hot....I’d suggest that you source an additional water source( off a trim tab or another hull pick up) route a hose to the upper and dump more water on them....even at that, don’t expect to get the life span out of these that you did out of the helical gears.

That’s disappointing. I was told that the xr gears were much stronger and that the new diesel drive was built to handle torque. I’ve been getting 1000-1500 hours out of my Xes with 200 hr oil changes. My oil looks worse after 15 hours than it did after 200 in the xes.

They are a bit stronger, they just don’t last as long before they start pitting and if you’re real unlucky, break off a tooth and break the case behind the pinion retainer nut....if this is your first oil change, what you might be seeing might be from break in, unlike the helical gears, these aren’t machined, they have a bit of a rough surface on the teeth that will wear as they break in, possibly this is what you’re seeing in the oil.... even at that, unless you never get on plane, I think your days of getting 1000-1500 hours out of a drive are over....I don’t think I’ve dealt with one that went much over 300 hrs.

Heres a couple of pics, 1 shows the vaunted pits, the other shows the gear finish,