Don't you think it would be harder on the drive if your screw was hitting rocks or trying to turn in the mud. U-joints are cheap, drives are not. Trim it up, idle only.

When you get out of the hole raise the tabs first then kick out the drive if necessary. Smooth ride.

I idle all the time with my drive all the way up. I beach the boat a lot and its either this or I stick it in the mud and end up sucking sand into the water pump. I only do it when necessary (shallow water) and drop it back down as soon as possible. I have never had any drive problems and I have been doing this for years, but only with stock motors and drives. It can't be that bad.

Idling with the drive "all" the way up, is not a good idea. You'd be wanting to grease those universals every other time out......... Like i said earlier, i'd much rather be trimmed a little bit into the "trailering" tilt range if it meant keeping my screw and drive out of the sand and rocks.

Now who's ribbing who???