keep top bearing on bravo 1 drive ?
 

Wondering if anyone else has had this problem with bravo 1 before. I have twin 454 just redone, mild upgrades, maybe 450hp each 25p props port drive left hand rotation starb right hand. The port drive keeps destroying the top bearings & cover, been out twice and destroyed two sets of bearings and two caps, kind off an expensive hour on the water. The dealer tells me I need an imco top cover but I just can't see a cover fixing the problem. When you look @ the bearings the rollers are flattened and the race on the cap has pick up marks all around it, I thought it might have been a dry start but there was lots of oil on the bearing. Any help would great.

I run 500HP on my stock Bravo. A lot of other people run more than that. I always give it just enough to get on plane quickly. Not to hard as to stress the drive. Are you really getting on it out of the hole? There are some drive experts here that may help you on this one.

no, accelerating real slow using tabs to get on plane, breaking in the engines on the breakin oil not turning engines past 3000 rpm. I was told that the port drive that has left hand rotation puts all the stress on the top cap, but the cap is not broke just spun the bearings.

I have been using a drive shower for the last 6 years. It sprays water right on the top cap. I do not think that is your problem, but you should have them for reliability.

Yes, you are correct. Left hand rotating drives do stress the upper bearing and cap. However, there is no reason that the cap and bearing should be failing so soon. An Imco cap is certainly a great idea, buit I dont feel that it will solve your problem. You have some other issues going on there. If the upper bearing is wiping out, it will send debris all through that drive. You cant just slap a new bearing and cap on without fully dissassembling and cleaning it up. Also, if that bearing is failing, how is the surface on upper gear , where the bearing rides? If its got grooves , you need to have that surface ground or replace the gear.

I don't want to start a holy war or anything, but after you get everything fixed, I highly recommend using a high quality synthetic gear oil in your drives such as AMSOIL, RED LINE or Mobil 1.

I switched to Amsoil 3 years ago highly recomend it.

Its not an oil issue.. there is some sort of alignment issue.. setup or the towers are out of alignment.. something basic wrong there.. It should last longer and not destory things

same though here,,,, id be verifying the shimming and setup.

Change the cap. A friend of mine went thru 2 new drives using the same cap before he realized the cap was f'ed up. You couldn't see it but it was the problem. Could also be tower problems like Gadget said.