It will definitely fail you at the worst possible time. That’s usually while docking, and going back and forth into forward/neutral/reverse a bunch of times; fighting a breeze or current.

You can bring RPMs up a bit as a cheat code. However, that shock loads every other part of the driveline when it engages and will do damage.

Do not wait.

Sydways,

I put in a call to Hilltop Marine yesterday, but didn't get a call back. I will be reaching out again today. Planning on boating as normal until I can get it in, but it's going in as soon as they have an opening.

Should I just plan on changing the gears while it's apart, given the fact that we are overdriving it with the ProCharger? I'm looking at the XZ gear upgrade from CP. Are they direct replacement? What benefits?

Thanks. Brad.

Liberator,

Hobbs says (by memory) about 350hrs. All of which are involving ProCharger HP boost, whatever that is worth.

Thanks. Brad.

Guys,

What would the reasons be to go with the "upgrade" gears over the standard Bravo1 gear set?

Thanks. Brad.

What year is your drive? They changed the gears at some point, putting in a thicker floor which makes the cone clutch different. If I remember you can not get the older one anymore so its a new gear set if that is the issue.
Others on here may know better.

If Hilltop has a gear set I would do that to get you through the season, they used to be a pretty good marina, but I have not been around there for years.

As for upgrading, if you have the standard Bravo not sure how many XZ parts fit. XZ's had steel towers, larger shafts and I think different U joints.They are a pretty good drive as Bravo's go.

If it lets go under power, take it and throw the case away. It tweaks them and my experience is they never are the same.

Wildman,

We are going to do what we can to avoid the whole "letting go" thing altogether. Just to get that out there. :cool:

The drive was built in '01.

The upgrade kit states, "You can now upgrade your standard Bravo upper to the New XZ Gear Set from Mercury." Plus it comes with the cone clutch that is compatible with the supplied gears, so there's that.

The only reason I'm even considering it is because of the ProCharger. As I said, the magnet has always told us good things about the condition of the gears during drive oil changes. But my thinking is that, if it is advisable to replace the gears, we might as well replace them with better, rather than the same. The question is IF they are a direct replacement with no case mods necessary.

Thanks. Brad.

Guys,

So I put in a call to CP Marine about the XZ gear set upgrade kit. They have everything in house except the gears, and he's gonna call Merc on those. I have an "appointment" for the end of the month to have the work done, as it's not something I really want to tackle on my own, for the very least reason being that I don't have a drive stand to pull the drive with. That said....

The tech at CP suggested I make an adjustment to the cables to throw the cone clutch a bit more, citing no actual slippage after in gear. He indicated it can't really hurt anything. It will at least limp me along until after fall. Any guidance here? Pics would be awesome. I can likely figure it out, but....

Thanks. Brad.

The drive has 23 years on this rebuild and 350 hours Procharged. Is an upgrade really gaining you anything?
Roots or Whipple I could justify it.
Just thinking out loud...

Make sure it’s adjusted properly before you open the drive up. Not saying it couldn’t be internal just worth spending 5 bucks on EBay on an adjustment tool. The upper one I bought off eBay, the lower one I just cut a slit in a Sherwin Williams paint stirrer and have used it a bunch of times (unfortunately). Cables DEFINITELY stretch….