Are these drives any good? They have a 3 year no fault warrantee, and I quote from the ebay auction "The three year fault-free warranty covers any damage to the drive that requires it to be repaired or replaced including failures resulting from lack of oil, fishing line, impact, neglect, and other abuse."

Heres an ebay auction for them BRAND NEW for $1195
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MERCR...QQcmdZViewItem

I ran mine out of oil, burned up the upper gears, broke the upper shaft, destroyed the upper bearing, not to mention that my scag is coroded and the fin on one side is completely broken off! Why even bother fixing it at this price??? Am I missing something???

Not missing anything. At their price you can buy 2,and if one fails you can send it back for warranty and run the other one while you wait for a replacement. We have used several of them with good success. They are made "offshore" to keep the price down,but at half the price of a Merc Alpha,you really can't lose.

Thanks MagicFloat!

i'm ordering one now! Free shipping to boot!

Last time I had an upper rebuilt it was $700, and that was me carrying the upper in to the guy and putting it back on the boat myself. This time, its gonna take a couple more parts than it did then, so I think I have a new anchor in my shop and a new outdrive in the mail!
Thanks again

Not sure if it was here or another site, but some buyers had failures of SEI Alpha drives shortly after installation. Maybe they got their quality issues sorted out.

Good luck.

SDE is also very close to offering a standard Bravo One drive @ a very good price point, as well. Should be available next month. Not a performance Bravo, just a replacement for the standard Bravo.

Bought my SEI counter-rotating direct from SEI. Had to pay the shipping but it was only about 1400 (for upper and lower together) with gaskets and new anode kit. I followed the break in maintanence schedule and have no issues with mine after about 50hrs of use. I think it's a heck of a deal for the price, and you get a warranty Merc won't come close to as a bonus.

Wonder how well it will hold up to a little torque of a blower motor?

Well.....I ordered the SEI alpha one, and installed it on my 23' Webcraft. It has a little whine to it that I have never heard with any of my Mercs......only have about 5 hours on it, and have been trying to take it easy on it, but I definately hear a whine at just above idle. i also had a gimble bearing installed while the drive was off, but I'm thinkin its the drive......I'll finish the break in period and change the oil and see if it quiets up, but it is bothering me a little..........

when, not if, I tear up mine I will buy one. I got a 22 pachanga with a 454. We will see how they hold up.

they say up to 300hp??? does this mean the warranty is no good on boats with 454's???




what does it cost to rebuild a alpha??