...cause im in that danger zone too...640hp pushing a b1

Mines black and the lower is not painted.It does look bad ass but it is a lot of cash..I was told to be easy on it because they do break..

I have imco sc with 800 aside over 100 hrs no failures , just switched to 1.26 gears , old gears looked good as new , guess I'm lucky cause I'm pretty hard on it

IMCO has the same internals as an XR. It's essentially an XR drive in a different case. The IMCO SCX Extreme I thought was 23k new.

Ya , I agree the black imco does look great! gives the back of the boat a race look.... some of the imco drives aren't black, they are all like a silver/grey color, which looks nice too....

I guess you have the option to pick black or silver?

Thanks MC240, I was wondering how similar they were.. The IMCO sure is a great looking drive, Wow, thats alot of money.. Hey, i wanted to ask u, if u already have an XR, what would u do to make it better/reliable, without spending so much money on the imco scx?

If your upper is running XR gears the ratio is changed in the lower. From what I gather the upper gears are the issue, they either pop a tooth off or gall.

Yes the ratio is in the lower , I checked everything though , the upper looked new as well

[QUOTE=PokerRun388;3488104]Thanks MC240, I was wondering how similar they were.. The IMCO sure is a great looking drive, Wow, thats alot of money.. Hey, i wanted to ask u, if u already have an XR, what would u do to make it better/reliable, without spending so much money on the imco scx?[/QUOTE]

I am actually very curious about this also! That is if there is a reliable way to do it.

With all due respect. In your second post you stated a +800HP blower engine in your boat with an XR Bravo Drive.
You are listening here but you are not HEARING!

When you listen only and don't Hear you stop learning.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Over 4 seasons on a XR upper and imco -2 lower with over 1000 hp on my 572 talldeck 10:71 blown bbc in my warlock. Drive is still on the boat with new owner.

With all due respect, Im a grown man and, although have not mastered the technique of "listening and hearing", I have gotten pretty damn good at it! ;) The reason why I quoted that line is b/c I am trying to learn all the different options, hence the reason why I started the thread. I did not ask that question, PR did, and I wasnt sure if another option would be to change the lower to imco, etc w/o swappig out the entire drive. Obviously I am still new to outdrives and the such and do not have nearly as much knowledge as u on this subject, but I still dont see the need to respond in a condescending manner.

Thanks to all that responded so far!

Negative. The SCX drive is 13k new. That is each of course.

You are probably thinking of the Arnerson conversion, which is around $23k a side.

I put a whole 2.5 hrs on my XR before it broke. but i threw a bravo on there that has 200+ hours and it's lasted no problem Go figure!!!!

Did you have some problem with your SCX? Because that is the third time in this thread that you have said that you were worried it was going to break.:party-smiley-004:

I have not heard of a single SCX upper gearset failure so far. it may have happened, but it has not been posted on here. There have been guys running well over 1000hp through them for many hours without failure. Your 700hp isnt going to hurt it much unless you like getting air and bouncing it off the limiter before reentry.

http://xpowerdrive.com/frame_index.html

These look great

The X Power drive is now being produced by Strut.

And for $30k a side!!! for just the outdrive, they should look great.:lolhit:

..and your nearest dealer/service center would be???

At the moment, I'd say the best overall alternative would be NXT's, followed by Konrad, and then Arneson. You simply cannot channel Top Fuel horsepower through Kia transmissions.

FYI... XR's have a problem with the upper drivshaft. Not the gears themself. THe upper drivehaft "sits" in the niddle bearing. This bearing was changed some time ago to "more" spindles and smaller"..thus makes a grove into the driveshaft. It starts to "wobble" (even miniscule amount) and poof.
Older Bravos had niddle bearing with larger "spindles" (I'm not sure on this) but I think Imco and others use hardened or "stronger" upper drivshafts, and going back to the "larger" size spindled niddle bearing. Mercs. XR's has a bit better upper driveshaft then the STD Bravos. I think they have "some" hardening, but the niddle bearing (or is it called pin gear?)... still digs into them.
The bad thing is that Merc. just won't admit it and comes up with all type of excuses for failures. Now..
I'm not saying this upper driveshaft is the case ALL the time... but waaaay too often.

Boy, they sure do! The drive looks decent, too.

Why do you think the NXT and Konrad is a better option than the Arneson? The rigging involved is atleast the same, as the ASD#7 for the Konrad and probably more with the NXT/#6 package. What is the price for a complete SCX, Konrad or NXT/#6 drive, including steering ect.? Also, with the SCX and Konrad, you don't get the speed and handling advantages of the surface drive. Is the Indy drive available as a drive only, and how does that compare price wise?

I cant understand how Konrad would be a good alternative to a bravo or xr when an SCX or BMAX is plug and play. No transmission to deal with, no pulling motor, no rerig...just seems like an SCX or a BMAX would be a logical choice. I believe you need to use the Hi-perf merc gimbal with either but if your coming from an XR its already there.

You don't have the stock XR gears in the Konrad for one thing.

What is the deal with the Xpower? I have only read about 2 boats with them and one of them was on their own web site. I think they priced themselves out of the market...would have thought that they would come in between a SCX and Arneson.

The details on the Xpower are pretty foggy as well...

Does it come with its own gimbal? Or does it bolt to a Merc? Does it have a cone clutch setup or does it need a tranny? If it needs a tranny can it go in and extension box? Does it come with a tranny? Their site is not very informative. However...it does talk about their "Top Secret X-dimension"...in the vids it doesnt look so secret to me...looks like the waterpickup is not in the front of the bullet but rather on botom of the gear housing by the leading edge of the skeg...Allowing extremely hight X. It may be a great drive but at that price, why not an Arneson or a 6 / NXT?

You dont have them in the SCX upper either. The SC uses merc gears...SCX uses their own larger gears.

Another thing I like about an SCX or Bmax is that you can use your existing lower/s. I know on the Bmax it involves swapping in a larger lower input shaft...not sure about shaft swap on the SCX.

True. But it's still a weak link in the package.

Really? How do you figure that? Please elaborate

I know John the owner of BMax very well and I can tell you that his drives fo live. The upper for one is much larger. He cryo treats the gears on the upper and lower along with the other special treatments to the innternals. I personally believe it is a good product and a viable option to a true plug and play bravo replacement. Plus I ve had them on two separate BT's so i have actually run his product.

:popcorn:

You are correct Phil.

Sorry i must of studdered.I only said it twice.But if you knew me you would understand.I can break anything but not by choice it just happens.

How long are the extension boxes? I'm kinda looking at an Imco box for my tub.

Pm me if you have a price.

[QUOTE=DirtyJerz;3488330]I would give the guys at max machine a call. They are building some nice stuff and will spend the time to answer any questions.

My comments on NXT/Konrad/Arneson were based on all three being products of well-sized companies with proven durability. The Arneson was third based on potential handling issues; not every boat responds well to extended shaft drives. I have no doubt that IMCO and BMax products are built by bright and serious people with good intentions, but they are simply not mainstream enough to be practical in the long run. Once Ilmor's Indy drive becomes available, things will become far more interesting...

I think the weak link he's talking about is the sc, imco or stock lower bolted to the scx, seems to be all the rage. Problem I have with that set-up is even after Cryo/iso rem treating lower gears, setting lower up with best billet shafts and ideal clearences, using the best oil out there, I still eat up gears and shear off prop shafts/vertical shafts. I just sheared a billet vert shaft and this time it decided to cut it way thru the lower housing completely destroying EVERYTHING except prop shaft and carrier, if I were to go to a scx I would use the scx lower too and just turn up the power to make up for the speed loss instead of KEEPING a weak link, Smitty

That SCX lower has a skeg that would stear a freighter...I think that is scrubbing off a lot of speed. It really looks like it could be shortened quite a bit even in a surfacing app.

BMax may not be mainstream but IMCO is quite the opposite. I would not hesitate to buy a drive from them or for that matter any other part with their name on it. Their steering products may be the best out there.

Well sorry we are at the bottom of your list. So much for making a stronger, lighter, faster and less expensive product that comes in the bottom of your list.

As for handling, I definitively know you are incorrect there, but hey, I've read so many success stories about your top two it really doesn't matter.

:party-smiley-004: