Drive guardian
 

I've been reading about these for a few hours now, they seem like a great product but fairly new.
Does anybody have any real world experience with these?
I have a 42 Tiger TS with 575Sci and bravo xr's and would like to have some extra insurance against premature failure.

Great product and a good fit for your application....where the power is in the range of what the drive can handle and the boat sees rough water

Not to be confused with an OVERPOWERED drive that will prematurely wear out anyways

I could be wrong but I think Performance Marine Services on Lake George,NY runs this on their race boat. Either way they would probably be good to discuss it with. Perfmar.com

you must be referring to 750-800hp motors with xr's

First off the drive guardian is a very cool product that was long over due in the Marine world

IMO using common sense about how this "clutch" works....

The main benefit is rough water

The product does not "slip" getting on plane, and does not "slip" while cruising at near peak torque going through the drive wearing it out. It only slips when there is a torque spike.

There's a proper "tool" for every job and the drive guardian is not a replacement for an upgraded drive.

Does not matter on the power range, the DG is a great addition to any boat that has a properly matched drive train to its engine. Bravo XR, SCX, Indy, BMAX, SSMV, #6, etc.

There's been a few threads started on them. I think a pretty long one exists that was started by one of the race teams. They are having a good experience with it iirc. Edit- I see the thread i was referring to was located and brought back to the top

Call Jason at performance marine in Bolton landing , NY. he will tell you if it work for you or not. He's not the guy that will sell you something that you don't need

We have run a Drive Guardian on our race boat (26' Joker, XR Drive, 540 CI) for 2 years and have no complaints. We use Performance Marine as our drive rebuilder and have avoided the issues that many have with big power and Bravo drives. There are many races where we are forced to keep the throttle down even when the prop leaves the water and I am convinced the Drive Guardian has protected our drive from damage.

I`m getting them for my boat . Very excited!!

I'm convinced they work as long as the drive is rated for the horse power you put to it.
I'll be ordering them in the next few days.
I wish we could hear from some other boaters that have bought them besides the few race teams that seam to like them.
If they work that great they should fly off the shelves.

I don't doubt they will extend the life of a drive in rougher conditions, I think the issue most people will have is removing the engine($) to install and the purchase price of the part($) DG.

If I had a race team and had DG as a sponsor I'd be running and praising them too!

I don't know if addressed it, but when they first came out I don't believe the fit inside the merc dual cooler housings iirc

Have you seen the other thread where Saris has before and after pictures of their gears?

That`s what I run, those fitment issues have now all been solved.

I have to pull one of my motors for a rear main seal anyway so I just ordered 2 bravo units. Hopefully they will be a good return on my $$$

True to an extent... However on the flip side, they wouldnt be continuing to praise(almost 2 years now) it if it didnt work.. they would sweep it under the rug and just not mention it... Rich and Johnny have come on here time and time again praising the product so I would have to lean towards it working..

I asked Ernie Dupois at the Borden Light Poker Run what he thought of the Drive Guardian. He spoke very highly of it, didn't have a bad thing to say about it. To the best of my knowledge he is running 900 horsepower through a bravo based drive in a 31 foot single engine Sutphen.

That's good to know. I was thinking of getting them when they first came out but they wouldn't fit at the time. I figure with the mild power I have I'd never give drives another thought.

We love ours, wouldnt run hard without them. We're happy to answer any questions. As Trent stated, if it didnt work, we wouldnt use it. Our before and after gear pictures tell the whole story. Not to mention the list of other teams using them. Stihl, Smith Brothers, Cat Can Do, Perdition, Boxer and there is some MDC Technology on the Spirit of Qatar Mystic.

Nice to hear from someone that uses one and successfully puts that kind of power through a bravo set up.

After a season of use his drive still showed normal wear of an overpowered bravo drive, but not to the extent of a typical gear set used in rough water. Like was stated before, makes the drive think it's on a lake.

Looking into these myself. What is a rough price on a pair? Would be going behind some warmed 502 mags with standard Bravos, but am spinning Merc 5 blades..

The Bravo version of the DriveGuardian is $2,495 each.

gf?

Just need a few cases of beer, a couple friends, a forklift and a free afternoon! :)

Drive guardian
 

Same exact thing happened to mine after the 5th time out, Had them taken out and now sitting on the shelf in my garage.

Talked with Mike from Drive guardian today and is going to take a look at what happened and make it right.
Seems like a good guy standing by his product.

I use DG now second season on 662SCI and 275 Baja without any issues!
Drive and oil look alltime like new!
Would buy again!
Michael

There are a lot of DGs out there, on race and pleasure boats. I would hesitate to blame the DG for a failure until all the facts are in. We had a brand new Mercury XR break a gear in a race on the river in Detroit, calm water, and seize the drive. The DG went up in smoke and saved the engine from the shock of locking up. Obviously the DG had nothing to do with the gear failure.

I wish I had one. Just wish the price would come down.

I am sure they would help a lot. on extending gear life

They are expensive, but if it saves one drive from breaking it paid for itself.