Keith

I am hoping for a release date of 6-1-2013

Don't have pricing yet, but it will be more than stock XR gears. Unfortunately my small volume compared to Merc drives up the cost.

They will be direct replacements for XR gears.

Can't talk about anything else right now.........

like you and everyone else are not already spending that $ to date. you want to keep us on the drug of bravo repairs but its still a habit that is to expensive in this economy. look at the # of people that have had multiple failures. add up those cost and you see you'v spent a lot of $. if you don't want to spend 75% of the boats value, then get a more expensive boat and you won't cry about the cost of doing something right. you are reminding me of those commercials in the 60's "pay us a little now, or a LOT later". face it if you have bravos you are on borrowed time and this is before the boat even gets wet.

I think you will find that most of us do not have the room it takes to install 6's . And even if you had the room the weight of the 6's would not work well in most of the boats we are talking about here. Just my .02
And don't think for a minute that 6's don't break

Boatless

Why don't you please share with the rest of us, what boat you own and what power and drives ???

Oh and by the way, you clearly did not interpret my questions correctly in the first post. I don't care how much money YOU have spent on fixing your drives or how many people you know spent on drive repair etc.
Or your personal opinions on Bravo drives.


Please re-read post #1 and then go get on your soap box somewhere else.

Thanks for the info...didn't realize the VI drive weighed that much more. How much of a pain is it to convert to VI? I know 1 of the checkmate guys put an extension box and VI on a 253...How involved is the switch? Just asking questions, and appreciate the info.

Geeter-
Most of the other drive setups require a transmission and a lot of boats are not set up for that...

Smitty, good call on this thread. Thought about starting one last week on the same subject. Have buddies that have never had a problem with a bravo...mostly running stock power. I have a bmax waiting for my transom and personally think it is the most cost effective way to go with a tougher upper. The lowers seem to be a lot less to repair and are somewhat disposable. Maybe we will meet some day at hot boat wknd and share some stories of broken dreams.

The Donzi has had the original drives since new and their only HP Bravos which are just a standard drive with i think a heavier gimbal some kinda treated gear and low water pickups on the nose of the lower. That boat is 11.5K pounds dry with 525SC's so they can survive if handled properly. I wouldn't say its babied but it but it is run hard "properly". When i blew a drive a couple years ago it was kinda self inflicted, i had forgotten to check the top cap bolts as part of my oil change ritual and believe they were beginning to loosen from previous use, when i got back on the trailer that day that was the first thing i checked and sure enough they were finger tight. I think it either lost tolerance and/or let in water, i was not running hard at all we were on a lunch run to the Erie Islands and was just cruising along at thirty five hundred and she let go. That day has sense been known as the day we got a twenty five hundred dollar pizza :D

Couple things boys. I have a 1994 STD Bravo.. 500+ hours with a 454 mag. No problems. none, But no serious HP and high revs. However. The XR's problems are not in the gears. It's in the overall design specifically in the upper driveshaft. Some time ago (not sure when) merc changed the upper niddle bearings and also hardened the driveshaft etc. Now. You got more "niddles" in the bearing but less of them. Also the port wher the lube gets to the bearings and shaft is too small. So the niddles/bearing digs a groove in the shaft and stuff gets out of alignment, viboratin then failure. Merc. wont tell you this, but I have discussed this with merc racing staff and during some "casual" talks they will admit it. I am pissed at Merc also, so I have no reason to keep it out of the arena. I had great relatinship with Merc, untill the CMI issues. (old stuff). I had both the 525's XR drives upper shaft replaced, seen the problem but I cought it in time so no break downs, to date. Close. The gears are not an issue. Change the niddle bearing to the old style, if you can get them , machine the lube hole out to get more oil in the bearing and shaft areas and the XR will last longer. (unless you bolt on some 850 HP crazy stuff. :) I will see if I can dig up the driveshaft pictures one of these days. But at the end of the day, it's called planned obsolesance, faulty parts, designs, more new parts and service sales. Merc's integrity is gone long ago.

interesting...harley is pulling the same obsol. trick on us...
first time i hear about the bearing issue,but it does make sense,as i witness the same situation with HD every day,and they wont fix it!