alpha drives????
 

mated to stock 350's on a 28 foot boat,Are they really that bad?

No, they are well suited for small blocks. Just service them regularly.
Jim

I had twin alphas on a Foutain with 350's. Had the boat for 7 years and never ahd any problems with the drives or engines!

the guy also said they have upgraded gears to handle 500HP.Would they be considered SS drives?

SS drives are completely different. Don't know how it's possible ALPHAs could be up graded to handle 500 hp. They might take it for a while if you baby them. They did upgrade gears and bearings when the bb was installed in front of it back in '87. That just helped them tolerate a stock 330.
Jim

I had a Formula 242LS with twin Alphas/SBC - no problems in 7 years. Three of those years were with 385hp engines. They seem to do much better handling higher hp/torque loads in twin applications where they can share the load. An Alpha has a little better hydrodynamic efficiency than a Bravo, but is limited to its own applications.
I think everyone will agree on one thing- they don't care much for going airborne, especially if you're not good and quick on the sticks.

You don't want to holeshot or air out the prop with anything more than 300 HP. Big block torque will gobble hem up- even stock 330's. You also don't want to go from neutral into either engaged mode with the motor doing anything but idling.

Alphas have a bad-rap for no real reason. Worked great on my 26 Sutphen with twin 300hp SBCs. The only problem you'll likely face is resale.

My Father used to sponsor a Race boat back in the 80s that ran 600hp twins thru alphas and they had very few problems with the drives under those conditions. Dont beat them and you should be fine.

I had Alphas with small blocks on my 26 foot Wellcraft Nova II. Owned it for six years - no problems what so ever.

Merc makes an HD gear set for them. Comes as a kit with bearings, shims etc to retrofit them.. Doesnt make them suitable for 500 HP IMO, but it's an improvement over the stock gears..

Did they make left hand ALPHA's for the twin app's or did they just get 2 right's????



Rag's

counter-rotating available.

had a boat with 350 mag and alpha no problem at all with the drive in 10 years of running it hard. Curently have a 502 mag with a bravo lasted one season and broke a gear.

My Formula was a handful at speed with the two RH drives after I did the upgrades to the engines- I always thought I would put a CR on it or upgrade to Bravos if I ever broke one, but the righties offered trouble-free service for the duration.
I'm not positive of this, but I think the CR drives have an HD gearset in them out of the box.
They may have their limits, but if you stay within them, their pretty darn good. I had Simrek drive showers, Merc drive reservoirs, and ran RedLine oil in them. Never missed a beat.

I've run a 400+hp small block on an alpha for years. I found the key is to have good drive shower on it and synthetic oil, as well as not pounding on it out of the hole and feathering the throttle properly when in the air. I use the Simrek drive shower and Amsoil marine gear oil and have the drive checked evry fall. It is 17 years old and all I've ever changed is the water pump or just the impeller. My mechanic says the gears and bearings are still like new!

Have them on my scarab. Had a fight with some rocks a couple years ago and the insurance co paid me for a lot of new parts. I was gonna re power the boat that winter and since I broke a gimball and the rest of the transom parts were old I looked into doing bravos. After all the rigging I'd have to do , like water pumps , couplers , yadda yadda and the added expense of 2 new transoms and drives over replacing the alphas and 1 transom, I figured if the origional ones lasted me 12 years with fluid and water pump changes I'd have to stick with them. The boat doesn't do that much over 60 that I'm worried abouot the speed recomendations of merc , and i paid like 6000 for 2 new drives , 1 counter , and 1 transom ( other was 1 yr old) . Also bought 2 new motors from merc and have all new running gear and couldn't be happier with the package.

Thanks Jafo my dad is looking at a few boats in the late 80's with twin SBC and it kinda threw me with 2 right prop's.


Rag's

I have had good luck also with my alpha hooked up to a bbc on my formula. Just take it easy out of the hole and you will be fine.

My Formula F206 has an Alpha with a 350 MAG. I've had the boat for 7 years now with no trouble. I change the gear oil once a season. Knock on wood, there hasn't been any shavings on the lower drain plug or water in the oil. I don't know if the previous owner had the drive rebuilt during the time he had it. Run time on the clock is over 400 hours.
Other than oil changes I've replaced the water pump and lower shift cable assembly. Drive bellows is still original to when I bought it. I never store the boat with the drive up. I always lower it to keep water from collecting in the prop and to keep from stretching (stressing) the drive bellows.

I have been running Alpha SS for 6 years. They have been good to me, I 've only had one drive break in about 300 hours, broke two teeth off a stock upper gear. I have had the gears replaced with the HD set in two of them, and the third (spare)is going in to have them done soon. Everyone says not to air them out but, with the short SS lower even when not trimmed fully it is hard to keep the prop totaly in the water at all times. I have to admit I fly my boat quite often and as long as you are quick on the throttles, run a drive shower and synthetic oil and not much over 350 HP you should have no problems. SS is N/A as a counter rotating drive. IMO the bad rap is undeserved, it's good for the buyer and bad for the seller.