I use the RedLine **** in them now...we'll see if that helps.

Good luck. 900's in front of any Bravos is pushing it. Like towing a 40 foot boat with a Jeep CJ6.

I know everyone will hate me now but ,,,,The Imco's on my brothers boat 1000hp a/t do great !!!! I have several over 4 fiends that love them and use them

THEIR ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY !!!!!

A Shop I know of and several other friend had alot of trouble ,ungodly amount with B_MAXes

SO THEY ALL HAVE THEIR PROBLEMS /and their nothing but band-aids on bravo's ,,,I love my #6's

I"M SORRY FOR YOUR TROUBLE THOUGH

The XR is supposed to be good for Merc's 575 hp engine, but doesn't Merc have a + or - 10% tolerance on their hp ratings, which means a 575 hp marked engine could be 632.5 hp? If the 575 hp rating is prop hp, then can you increase the rating by 20 - 30 more hp if you are using engine dyno numbers?

My next drives will most likely be Arnesons.

This is exactly the reason I decided to go with the Arneson Bravo conversion. Maybe you guys should look at this possibility also. Good luck but I've heard all these stories before. Yea Yea Yea there great , they will never break, then you write the big check , then break em a month after and they forgot all the things they said!!

Always something to ***** about, but the fact of the matter is, if you are going to play with the big boys, then you need to have the right toys AND these drives are not the right toys for that set up. Expensive Boat. Expensive Engines. Expensive Accessories. Then you "Cheap Out" on the drives? KEITH EICKERT 675 SUPER CHARGED engines should be pushed by Serious drives, PERIOD. Would you buy a Cadillac and request a cloth interior to save $1500?:frog:

The 575 is 550hp at the prop. Good point about the 10% tolerance though. A lot depends on the throttle man I think.
Why buy imco drives if they use stock XR gears?

What's wrong with cloth interior?
 

If driven right a bravo can handle over 800 to 900 horsepower. I said driven right. Easy take offs and no sudden off-throttles. I have put over 750 horsepower to the stock bravo's and gotten over a year out of them. Broke 2 over a 4 year period. Both were broken coming off throttle, not throttle up. If you want to play hard, buy the best parts, but for most of the normal boaters, they are not going to spend the big dollars if they can get by.

Re: What's wrong with cloth interior?
 

I dont care who you are. If you have a 9000lb boat, have 575+ HP and play in 2-7 footers. You will break a ****ty bravo drive. Its not if its gonna happen, just when!;)

Imco to date, unfortunatley has not returned any of our phone calls, nor have they tried to discuss or alieviate the problem, they admitted to excessive wear, it is bad gears, and they don't stand behind their product.

Nefarious, to anwser your Question, no the living **** has not been run on this boat, so what, you see it jump out on a wave, thats what these boats are for, their not f*cking cruisers, and I was told By IMCO that these drives could handle that power, I called before I bought, they were rated for 800HP, thats why I spent the extra coin to begin with, I was told by them that this drive was superior than the XR and better than the Bmax at a 4K savings per side. Bottom line is they know they have a problem, and I feel everyone on this board has a right to know, facts are facts, and to date my 42 SS Sonic has 186 hrs on a bravo, not a problem, my 38 Top Gun was the same way, so its not driver error.