Hey B4m I've got III's on my fountain and love 'em. They make the boat handle better and after 200+ hours of abuse no problems. Jerry at Oasis in Chicago does the conversion and I bought the drives from Mel Riggs. The whole project cost about $25,000 parts and labor. But I'm happy and I'm on the water and I'm wide open with 800's.:cool:

Call me if you need to talk about it...

blackhawk,

yes it is possibble. i have done it. the only thing i changed each race was oil. now i will admit that particular season was relativley flat. rule of thumb is you can race another race on the same drives if you never lifted out of the water. on a rough race no matter what i have the drives gone through. now that does not mean i replace everthing that means they are taken apart and put back together as per spec as we might of loosened somthing during the race. believe it or not it is relativley inexepensive as it was costing me about 120 dollars per drive if nothing was wrong. if there is a problem ovbisously it would cost more to clean fix and repair. 9 times out of ten i was ok. ever once in a while i would have a problem.

over the years you can definatly tell the better throttlmen apart as to how big your drive bill is.

Treadwell
P.S. and this is just how i do it. there are other teams like herrbot racing( god only knows how) has done an entire season without touching his drives rough or flat. but there is the weight issue. his boat is only 31ft long. only has to weigh 6900lbs very light.

yep...must be them there out side forces again:rolleyes:

"has to" is the key word there! it's weight is always more than that...

blackhawk,at the begining of this race season i did tear it down to magnaflux the shafts,replaced the upper gear set as the brass cones were showin some where,but only from engagement,it is all stock parts nothin hi-perf......even the mercury racin guys are impressed with the usage weve got out of it.....I watch a lot of race teams destroy alot of drives etc,but my beleif on the whole thing is dont strecth your propeller up to much,keep the motor and drive turning within a 100 rpm's of it redline, and let it run,being able to read the water and knowin when to let it bark,and knowin when to respond to the water doesnt hurt either,even when I build a drive for a customer I go thru steps to make sure there not tryin to strecth the drive out to far.....halfa racin is makin the finish line. but thats only my opinion,and my boat.

hey eric,I gues I forgot to show you the pictures on checkered flags web site,same drive we were on in savanah....same drive you had in cape cod......

www.checkeredflagphotography.net
go to daytona,F1-52
must be a really long prop

AO....those are some of my most favorite race pix ever!! the second one down rocks!

thanks wildman,heard about your new program for next year,GREAT JOB GUYS

OA....thanks man...i guess well just have to see how it all plays out right???

i agree with what you had said prior in the thread! big boat and over proping is not a good combo most of the time!....hey at the BARE min. my poker run drive caps come appart after run'n....one time i found the top shim to be scored just a tad, only in one area...go figure! measured it, and fliped it...no problem.

OA,

"stretching the drive" are you refering to triming the drive out too much?

Joe,

What brand drive lube are you using in your drive?

Thanks guys

in few words... water conditions should reflect your prop choice...go out in rough conditions with a set of 32's on and not run hi 80's....your ask'n for problems! the dynamic load requirements are off the charts!

too much propeller........stretches out a drive,like audacity said....too much load kills them,if you want big pitch youve got to work on diameter,if you want big diameter you got to loose pitch.....its a give and take situation.....you give and they take