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-   -   Drive questions Teague/Imco/Bmax (https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/general-boating-discussion/272376-drive-questions-teague-imco-bmax.html)

4195 03-15-2012 07:25 PM

http://www.billetmarine.com/Our%20Products.htm

Okay check this out. I have Billet Marine's top cap on my drives it has a built in drive shower and is a quality product. I had emailed Curtis 6 months back and said that offer an upgraded aerospace shaft and polish and harden the top gears. This may be another option until the fall when I can do a full upgrade. Thoughts??

offshorexcursion 03-15-2012 08:15 PM


Originally Posted by 4195 (Post 3642087)
http://www.billetmarine.com/Our%20Products.htm

Okay check this out. I have Billet Marine's top cap on my drives it has a built in drive shower and is a quality product. I had emailed Curtis 6 months back and said that offer an upgraded aerospace shaft and polish and harden the top gears. This may be another option until the fall when I can do a full upgrade. Thoughts??

Please do not waste your money on ANY XR upgrade with that kind of hp.

Leave your drives alone....run the boat....WHEN a drive blows upgrade to

Arneson
X-Power
Imco SCX
B-Max will work but the lower still uses XR gears so still not perfect

OR if you choose to keep Bravos, that SMILE you want this summer will be gone fast everytime they break! :lolhit: At least spend your money on a used spare drive, when a drive breaks throw the spare on, send the broken in for repair, then repeat. Bravo upgrades are worthless for a heavy Cig with big power.

Panther 03-15-2012 08:19 PM

4195, When you're breaking drives, what's breaking?

A.O. Razor 03-15-2012 08:22 PM

Even if you are turning them down to 750 it will break. It's the torque, not the hp.

I honestly believe your resale will be quite a bit better with Arnesons than upgraded bravo stuff. It's for sure you won't ever see your money back from those either.

Which ever way you choose, good luck and have a nice season.

offshorexcursion 03-15-2012 08:40 PM

How many hours do you average a boating season?

BTW, my Baja eats IMCO SC's every season I boat, and they have EVERY upgraded part you can buy. To much power is to much power, and I baby the boat on plane, never jump, change gear oil every 18-20 hours, etc etc. Lucky to get 50 hours of driving like a grandma! I want to NEVER THROTTLE BACK (like my boat name) but that will never happen till I upgrade to Arneson's.

Rik 03-15-2012 10:21 PM


Originally Posted by Panther (Post 3641918)
I disagree. I priced out the options before purchasing my BMax's and the ASD's were much more expensive, especially when you include the cost of SSM props. I spent less than $20K on the total BMax swap in 2006 and sold my old IMCO's for $10K. My engines needed to be raised to accomodate the ASD's because of the X dimension I had. You can also order a BMax or SCX with different drive heights and spacers. I've been running my BMax's behind 800+hp for 300 hours, which is 280 hours longer than the IMCO Extreme SC's I had previously. BMax is the cheapest and easiest swap of them all. No helmet change, no steering change etc, just the cost of the drive and some bolts.:party-smiley-004:

You motors would drop, not raise with the Arnesons. You would also get the same $10K back on your then drives if you did swap to offset the cost. Props are props, they are not free for any drive and with some of the options listed I never saw anyone put that as a negative when mentioning those options.

plaster dave 03-15-2012 11:01 PM

I have a 26' Howard cat with 850HP with a Teague Platinum XR drive thats been on since 04' with 300+HRS. with zero problems. If you change the oil every 20HRS it will treat you good.

kreed 03-16-2012 07:01 AM


Originally Posted by plaster dave (Post 3642271)
I have a 26' Howard cat with 850HP with a Teague Platinum XR drive thats been on since 04' with 300+HRS. with zero problems. If you change the oil every 20HRS it will treat you good.

I think the weight of the 42' v-bottom Tiger is the difference here....

4195 03-16-2012 07:32 AM


Originally Posted by Panther (Post 3642135)
4195, When you're breaking drives, what's breaking?

Top gear set and an upper shaft. I have only had the boat for one season and when I bought the boat the owners where having TNT redo the drive they blew, so I sent out the other to get done.

A.O. Razor 03-16-2012 08:09 AM


Originally Posted by plaster dave (Post 3642271)
I have a 26' Howard cat with 850HP with a Teague Platinum XR drive thats been on since 04' with 300+HRS. with zero problems. If you change the oil every 20HRS it will treat you good.

Two things.

As Kreed Mentioned, it's not an apples to apples comparison. More like apples to eeh,, bowlingballs. Even on your little cat, you've been pretty lucky.

An interesting point about your '04 drive is, that the '02-'04 XR gears, are probabley the best XR gears around. After that, they went steadily down hill fast and are reduced to the crap they are today. I'll bet you anything that when you do rebuild your drive, you will have all the classic XR gear issues afterwards. I guess the only man on earth that is completely oblivious to this is Fred Kiekhaefer, but then again, hs also finds nothing wrong with Mercs CMI headers:lolhit:


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