I have heard mostly things about both The BMax and Billet Max Machine Drives. Any thoughts as to which is better? I have a 26' 280 Velocity with a modified and Pro Charged 454 Mag making about 750 hp.

RB, I don't know about BMax but I have experience with Max Machine Worx. I recently ran a new 900HP Crockett engine in my Laveycraft 27 Saber cat. I had the IMCO Extreme Advantage Upper and lower. The upper lasted 2 hours, with less than 10 minutes of that at full power. It was destroyed to the point that none of the upper could be salvaged.

Aaron at Max Machine sent a regular, not billet, upper and I have 20 hours on it with multiple 100mph runs and one 100 mile poker run, at least half of that at WOT. The unit is performing perfectly and the guys at Max Machine have been very helpful. I would think that the Max unit would be a very good fit for your application. Quent

Thanks for your input.

DocManRich37 just pulled off his Max Machine Uppers and XR lowers to go with full BMax drives. 37 Active Thunder with twin Whippled 525EFIs.

Can anyone get the Bravo Shop to answer their phone or return an E-mail. 2 weeks now.

Part for part there is no question a b-max upper is better,it has much bigger gears,bearings,thicker case etc. As far as the lower goes,they are both pretty much using xr gears that have been through a surface treatment,be it cryogenic or hardening,coating etc.
I personnally have a max worx drive on my boat AND one for a spare. I was going to buy a B-max when I bought my spare max worx drive,I called up B-max with my credit card in my hand in june a few years ago (I had sheared off my vertical shaft driving like a retard and needed a drive in a few days as I was leaving on a 2 week vacation) and they told me 6-8 weeks,maybe 10!! I asked them what happens if I were to break something,what is your turn around time? I don't remember what the answer was but it seems like it was also 4-6 weeks. Our boating season in MI is only from mid june until beginning of sept usually,10 weeks,sometimes longer,and I cannot and will not wait. I ordered one from max worx new and complete,it was at my door within 3 days. Your boat is lighter or at least the same weight as mine and I doubt your 454 with even 10 plus lbs of boost is coming near the power output my 540 running 10 plus lbs of boost is making,I would expect a max worx drive to last you several hundred hours. When I only had 750 hp,my max worx drive lasted very long between breakdowns. There are several guys who have had breakage problems with them with less power than I'm running BUT there boats weighed nearly twice as much as mine or more. At the power level I'm currently at (950 plus ft lbs of tq) I am only geting 20-40 hours of life out of lower gears,which is un-satisfactory but Max worx is developing a set of lower gears made from some kind of 9310 alloy that will probably last,just waiting on them to finish testing them,Smitty

Try giving them a call again on monday. If you don't get an answer give me a PM with your phone number and name and I will have them call you. Dean is a good friend of mine. He has been really busy building drives that he has not had much time to answer the phone.

Don Gardner

Sorry you feel that way. But if you really knew how much Dean helps his customers you would be amazed. For a while he did have some supplier problems that kept hime from keeping up with the demand but those days are over.

Don

Thanks, why wait for tomorrow. My number is 847-514-1964. I have added the shop number in my messages but my mechanic takes Monday off. I would like to get off the trailer.

Just not as much fun!!!

Bob

Smitty,
Thanks,
My concerns are as your's as to response time. I live in Illinois and have about the the same season. I like what I see with Bmax but need some personal contact if i'm going to buy.
Bob