drpete3

I keep reading about you guys blowing you engine and ripping up drives and I am fairly new to boating and very new to fast boat and I cant afford to go through engines or drives or my next boat will be a lot smaller and named child support! So why do you guys blow engines and drives? Am I to worry when I am running my 454mag and bravo 1 at 5000 rpm?

Give it to me straight.

Airpacker

drives take a chitkicking in rough water or when infront of big power, Bravos that is. Learning to baby the drive out of the hole and to throttle it correctly will save you thousands in the long run. Most smaller, lighter boats with stock power will have good, long service life from the drive if cared for properly. I have seen bravos with 500hrs on them with no failures. Change the oil every 15 to 20 hrs, do not hammer the throttle out of the hole and always pull back when the prop leaves the water and with a stock mag, you will be fine for years.

Here's Johnny

I am no expert on drives and motors but you just have to use commen sense.......

1.....always check your oil levels......no oil equals big problems......

2......keep a good maintenance routine.......oil changes often and make sure whoever is doing them does the right job.....and uses the spec oil for your motor and drive....

3......keep your boat in the water while running.......jumping wakes is a blast but can wreak havoc on the drive.........when that prop leaves the water then re-enters the water at a high rpm you can do some major damage real fast........if you do like to jump wakes etc, etc then always pull the throttle down to take the stress off the drive...................

4.......try not to do hole shots......"flooring" the throttles can put a heavy load on your drive........ease up on plane......then once up on top of the water you can run it harder..........

5.......as for keeping the motor in one piece try NOT to run WOT all the time........I always try to run around 3500 to 4000 rpm.......then once in a while open it up for very short bursts (usually 1 to 2 min)

now as I said earlier I am no expert and someone may disagree with me or add to what I have written but I did have small clanking noise in one of my XR drives most of the season.....when I rebuilt that XR drive a few weeks ago the lower gear had quite a few teeth missing from the original owners use.........I like to believe my driving practices with some luck made that drive last most of the season......hope this bit of info helps you out and I am sure some others will add to this..........................

Here's Johnny

sorry about repeating basicly what airpacker said......we must have been typing at the same time........

t500hps

The only way to ensure you don't break it is to not use it......

TeamSaris

Also depends how many hours you have on your motor and how hard you run. Follow what airpacker said and you should have a nice reliable package.

AIR TIME

I ran a stock bravo 89 from 90 to 2005 with no rebuilds, had over 585hp from 95 to to 05 increased to 650hp. the 1st yr I owned the boat with a 330hp I blew the coupler and spun a prop. that was from nailing it from the start. just bring the boat to 2500 to 3000 to get on plane and if your at 3500 then its ok to nail it and as packin said if you fell the drive leaving the water not the boat pull back a little and as it touches water again try to get it back tio where it was . got to go

TexomaPowerboater

If you want to keep your maintenance low I wouldn't go WOT for extended periods

LostinBoston

If you check your oil and change it regularly, do all scheduled maitenance, dont over prop or have too much power, and dont over rev when leacing the water, a drive will last as long as the boat, unless it is defective. When people start trygin to get that extra few MPH out of their boat issues start to rise. Some of us live with it as a cost of the speed. I've never "blown" a drive or an engine on any boat.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

IMO holeshots and re-entry impact will kill a drive MUCH quicker than extended high speed runs. Especially if you use good oil and a drive shower.

Airpacker summed it up nicely. I always run drive showers just for peace of mind.