StarBoard

Was it a BOOM, followed by a rocks in a blender type noise then followed by an oil slick?

Exactly! Lol. I thought it tossed the driveshaft from the forward motor. No so much

Oh, I had that happen once. Followed by a call to TowBoatUS.
On mine the preload nut on the gear backed off. Found out that was pretty common on the old style uppers and that the nut has to be crimped in place and loc-tited.

The XR gears suck! I don't care what George does to them, they all start from the same crap Merc gears. Have him put XZ gears in and be done with it.

debated xr vs xz...during rebuilds.

although we aren’t running high horsepower, my biggest concern is weight. Although the helical cut gears wear better and have more surface contact, the teeth are tiny. we opted for xr’s. they are “supposed” to be stronger.

let’s face it. Bravos blow. No matter what gear set. I’ve read stories where people had xz’s with higher horsepower and blew them up. Went to xr’s and last 200-300 hours. And vice versus. The correct answer is go to imco’s, bmax or SSM

What boat?

94 top gun

Is this with the Drive Guardian installed? I had them installed a few months go.

no.