Looking for some options and opinions from people with experience.
After about 10 hours of owning the boat something let loose as i have a bravo xr upper and imco -2 lower with three neutrals. Have not looked into the drive yet to see what let go.
cruising at about 55 around 4K rpms the bit slowed down a bit and then shortly after i
lost all forward drive and could not shift into reverse.
doing some research for worst case scenario and looking at uppers.
boat is a 1996 outlaw 24, power is a m3 procharged 461 unsure of the hp number as I don’t believe it was ever dyno’d. Running a 4 blade 28p bravo one prop.
I don’t think that a gear let go, but again, I haven’t opened it up.
Is there really any benefit to an imco sc over a bravo xr? Will a bravo xr with a upgraded xz gear set be any better?
ultimately an scx would be the best option but is obviously the most expensive.
What are realistic expectations on bravo xr’s holding up

You are not going to know what went wrong until you open the drive.

XR vs XZ. XR and XZ are the same except for the gears, The XR uses straight cut gears. XR lower as a 1.25" prop shaft, XZ- 1" prop shaft, X- 1.25" prop shaft. Everything else inside is the same.

SC upper has a slightly stronger case, and has a water cooled cap. I've ran this upper and I like it, but it is only marginally stronger than an XR upper. SC drives are build with XR gears, but do have an IMCO clutch shaft which is a little stronger than the merc shaft.

SCX- This is what you should be running. Everything is bigger. Gear set is approximately 50% larger than an XR. You get better bearings, bigger clutch and clutch shaft. Compared to buying a new SC, it is only around $2k more.

I do plan to look at the drive sometime this week. Where should I start? Pop the back cover after draining the oil, or separate the upper and lower and see what spins and what doesn’t?

Pull the drive off, then split it. Depending on what you find, both drives may have to be torn down so the metal can be cleaned out. From your description, I think you will find the issue to be in the upper. If it was in the lower, you should still be able to shift it.

Id check the coupler before pulling the drive

xz uses the same lower as xr, x uses a standard lower

If it initially slows down and then finally just quit going, it sounds more like the coupler gave up the ghost.
If something in the drive failed you've had heard or felt it and it would've gone all at once. Not a little bit now and later totally.

You're right. For whatever reason, I always thought the X had the 1.25" prop shaft. No so, as you stated it's the XZ.

I missed the part in your description where you said it slowly stopped working. I agree with the others that it is probably your coupler that is toast. The drive needs to be spinning in order to shift in and out of gear. If you end up needing a coupler, I have a HD steel splined coupler. This is what you want to be using, not the aluminum version.

The easiest way to see if it might be the problem is to start the engine and then look to see if the input shaft is spinning at the same speed as the coupler. If not, that is your issue. No matter what the issue is, the drive is going to have to come off.

dropped the boat back in the water to check the coupler. Engine fired up briefly, but doesn’t idle well until it’s warm. Got the wife to look and she claimed both were spinning the same speed. Engine died again and the drive is now locked up. Will likely have to drain and pull the drive tomorrow

An XZ is an X upper with a XR lower. Merc quit making the actual complete XZ years ago.