The only extra life you get out of a Bravo by running them in both directions is going to be using both gear faces of the lower gears. The upper gears always spin in the same direction, the rotation of the drive determines which upper drive gear gets loaded.

On lower powered use, you can make the argument to use a Bravo in both directions to prolong the $700 for new lower gears, but at stock power the lower gears will last a long time anyway.

If your run your boat aggressively with more then 500hp or your putting 600+ thru a Bravo its good practice to not switch rotation on the drive. Just like its good practice to change the lube between 25 and 50hrs and do an internal inspection between 100 to 150hrs. The Bravo drive by no means is overbuilt, and the more HP you put to them the more maintenance they will take. IMO

BTW, I have repaired drives that so-called experts were the last ones to touch.

LE

The boat wont spin as easy when the props are spinning in. (one drive in fwd, other in reverse).

LE

I would..

LE

Bblades tells me to expect 2-4 more mph. Might be worth it to speak with whomever labbed your props or call Bblades.[/QUOTE]

The 36's im running were originally labbed by MERC in 03 when Brett still worked there. BBlades had them last year to weld the diffusser rings back on. The props went the fastest(107mph) with no difusser rings, but were nearly impossible to plane with. I lost 2-3 mph with the rings back on, but it planes with no issue.

I have cut back the rings .250 so far and can still plane, and seemed to pick up speed. Going to trim a little more, trying to find that happy medium.

BTW, Im not trying to pick a fight about the rotation thing, Ive been running 750+ thru Bravos since 2006 and im just trying to pass on some experience.

LE

Lake - So you had the Rings cut off and put them back on? What effect did that have on stern lift? My nose is running way too low with the props in stock form. Are you running stock lowers or shorties and do you have ext boxes?

HP 500's turning in ... 92 mph top I can reach smooth water .. average top speed 87 properly trimmed at 5400RPM

1" IMCO lowers and IMCO boxes is how I bought the boat, never ran the boat without them. I bought the 36's already labbed and only ran them once before I cut off the rings. I also have a pair of stock 34" Bravo props that I bought with the rings cut off, and they planed fine so I fiqured it would also be fine for the 36's.

Turns out I cut the 36's ring totally off, where the 34's had only the slightist of ring still on(were talking maybe 1/16-1/8"). Turns out that little bit is the difference between total blowout while planing and hooking up an going. BBlades welded a full ring back on, which I have since cut back a 1/4in, gonna trim a little more as well.

Diffusser rings cause stern lift(according to BBlades) not sure why, but trimming them eliminates some lift and frees up the bow. Im sure its similar to spinning them in. Definitely worth a couple MPH's with my setup.

Not sure how no diffussers and spinning in would work??

LE

Hmm, sounds awfully fast for a HP500 boat. All the write ups I have read with HP500's and 500efi's put the 353 between 78 and 80mph.. Whats up? something doesnt add up.

LE

Yea I couldnt even hit 80 with my hp500s and they dynoed almost good as new when we yanked them for the buildup project. I'd check that speedo...

Regarding swapping the drives - All good here. Just sharing what I have been told by some very knowledegable people and my experience thus far. No question, they will only handle so much power. Over 600 hp, you better be very careful with the sticks.

Also, agree on the 353 with 500's running 92 regardless of how the props are turning. My boat ran 82-83 with 525's prior to the whipples. Any mod's on those motors??