Hey guys. Got a few questions. I recently purchased a Sea Ray Pachanga with a 454 and an Alpha SS drive. I know it depends on my driving, but how durable is this drive? Are any parts interchangeable with a standard alpha? I know it is shorter so the vertical shaft is different. Is it shortened in the upper part or the lower? Any input would be appreciated.

i have heard it it pretty durable. Be careful not doing any holeshots and let off the throttle upon re-entry and it should give you trouble free service. BTW parts are hard to find for them. Also what size of Pachanga? And what power?

Lots of Alpha SS info if you do a search.
It's a standard Alpha upper (don't remember if Gen I or II) with a shorty lower. A few people used a Merc outboard lower unit if I recall, that seemed to be a direct replacement. also, I think the only "SS" specific piece was the vertical shaft.
Might want to have articfriends do his gear treatment magic on that drive.

This post has a good description of the SS drive...

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...light=Alpha+SS

I think the longevity of the drive depends on the weight of the boat, how hard you drive it, and care. My boat is only about 2800 pounds and it's had an Alpha SS on it for about 10+ years. I'm not sure exactly. When I bought the boat 4 years ago, the engine was a race-gas 550 HP Chevy 355 with another 125 HP shot of nitrous spinning up to 6500 RPM! So, for brief periods of about 10-20 seconds, this drive was getting 675 HP to it. I had a shop go through it last fall and they said it looked perfect. We just put new seals, u-joint, and bellows in it. In fact, it outlasted the motor. Now, I'm running a much tamer 400 HP 383 SBC. I always take it easy getting up on plane and have a drive shower to keep it cool. It's a fantastic drive for a small boat, IMO.

The ss lower is just like a CLE for an outboard...except the vertical shaft!

The engine is a 330hp 454. The guy I bought the boat from said he gaind 5mph with this drive.

No WOT hole shots
Get off the gas if you get the prop out of the water
After WOT runs, deaccelerate slowly
Synthetic gear oil
Drive shower

Alpha rules to live by when modified. I have the Merc #6 drive manual that covers the SS and it states it can be used with Alpha 1 upper housings but not Gen II's.

The SS is a Gen I Alpha upper, and a CLE lower, but it is not the same as used on an outboard, although some people have done that swap. I don't remember the exact details, but I don't think it was a direct bolt on swap. The argument has never been settled to my knowledge whether the SS had the HD gear set in them or not, but there is a HD gearset available.

I've got three of them (one spare). I finally broke a couple of teeth off the stock upper gears last year on one, I run them very hard, with mild power. Lot of wave and wake jumping. All three had small gear sets stock, one came from the 454/SS combo. I had HD gears put in all three, The ones that were changed last season were gone thru just last month and they looked perfect, repeate the mantra; drive shower,synth oil,off the throttle when flying, change drive oil every 20 hrs.

The vertical shaft is NLA, something to keep in mind.. Ya tweak it your history... The upper HD gearset is pretty much a mandatory upgrade, I have sent lots of SS owners the gear sets and they have had excellent results with them after that..

I'm on the hunt for one for a project myself, if someone finds one for sale please let me knoow..