Rage,

I have a Raylar 496 Mag HO, dynoed at 527hp. I chose the Bravo 1X drive. Added the beefy Max Machine Works top cap. Simrek drive shower. Before Raylar conversion we had a 24 inch Laser prop. Now use a Bravo 4 blade prop 28 inch, labbed. IMCO 2" shorty lower with Max Machine Works internals.

PM me if you would like more information.

Dave

Smitty, are these lower unit gears or other?

These are Bravo 1 drives?

I would like full details because the Raylar option is exactly what I am considering. The more detail the better.

Thanks!

Believe it or not! When it broke we were running a poker run in rough Lake Eire water with 9 people and a full tank of gas. Got it up to 75 on the Maumee river on the way to lunch. I think the last straw was jumping Tom Tadson's 60' Sea Ray wake on the way in. After lunch it wouldn't go back into gear. Mr Gadgets put it back together for me.

I am running a standard Bravo 1 behind my NA 598 on a light boat and haven't had any problems yet. I only have 30 HRS on the drive, but those are 30 hard hrs with a lot of time at 6000 plus RPM with a pretty high x dim. The drive is running an XZ forward top gear and a billet top cap. More importantly is is put together right!! I think in your case a standard bravo 1 will work fine if it is assembled properly. I have heard of many "out of tolerance" set-ups on stock merc drives. If nothing else have a reputable drive guy double check the set-up and make sure it is right. Your driving style will impact the drive life more than anything so take that for what it is worth. A bravo drive behind 500-600 HP should live a nice life on a light boat. After a couple of seasons have it checked out for problems.

Craig

I agree with wette vette

The Imco Extreme Advantage SC is Imco's Bravo drive. I'm not real sure of the specifics on it. I do know the case is a lot thicker. I don't think it is the XR version as it bolts up to my stock bravo 1 lower.

I only had the boat about 5 hrs before the upper went and had not drained/checked the lube condition. There was no sign of any trouble before the gears let go.

Rage,
what boat are you running and what weight is it?
A properly set up Bravo will go along way if you run it with respect. With the thick floored upper gears, the next weak link is the tower. I have found cracks under the tower when they are milled off. I do a steel tower upgrade on the standard Bravo and put the thick floor gears in. Makes a decent package for what you are looking at. I am assuming you have the thick floor gears because you have the 496.. Check to see what the serial number begins with. If it is OM_ _ _ _ _ _ ... then you have the thick gears.
If you want to discuss drives.. give me a call in the evening.. 616-335-8446, before 9pm. I would be happy to share what I know about breaking them..

Dick

Those are a set of xr lower unit 1.50 ratio gears,they started to chip away,I felt a vibration coming thru my floor on the boat after a 2minute wfo pass on higgins lake a few weeks ago. I headed straight for the trailer,pulled drive the next day ,tore it down and damage was limited to the lower gears and all the bearings thruout drive other than the ones in the upper gears. I have all the max machine parts thruout my drive,everything else has been staying together. I'm running over 950 ft lbs of torque so gear failure is a fact of life,Smitty