hustlerguy

575cat

250 ish hrs is recommended rebuild on top end on the 700's with stock valve train.
Your in that grey area... I'm a maintenance addict. If there is something that might need to be done soon I do it now. I have a theory of spend a little now at the opportune time so hopefully I dont have to spend alot later at a inopportune time (like in the middle of boating season or on a boat trip).

I did complete rebuilds... Wanted to be safe.
Honestly it wasnt necessary and I wouldnt tell anyone else they need do it that way again with less than 3-400 hrs, but I know everything was fresh and perfect and the piece of mind for me was worth it.
As far as far as the top ends... If you need to replace the springs and rocker arms you can do that on the boat but you probably are going to be in need of a valve job sooner than later because the stock springs let the valves flutter on the seats which causes the valve and seat damage as well as my suspicion some of the rocker arm issue from the Chinese bearing Crane rocker arms.
It kind of comes down to do everything once now or do it partially now and again in a year or two... Only you can make that call.

Top end in mine are the Teague platinum rockers (made by scorpion) Isky endurance plus valve springs, direct lube lifters for the cam. HP Valve job and some porting to the heads.

As someone said earlier, wait to long on those rocker arms and you will have needle bearings all over in the engine, at that point its a ticking time bomb until only one of them gets in a cam lobe, a bearing, or oil pump.

I would say its 50/50 how long they last. I talked to Eddie Young, Bob Tegue, Mark Boos all told me the same thing. It doesnt seem to matter on the smart craft how they were run, they have seen some run hard on the smart craft and the rockers last for hundreds of hours and seen some with mainly time below 3000 rpm and rockers let loose in the low to mid hundreds of hours.
Best advice I can give to anyone with stock Crane Gold rockers, for piece of mind get them out of the motor and spend a few hundred bucks on each set and put in a quality part.

Young Performance

You can push the 700's farther then the 525's, since the cam is quite a bit smaller. I wouldn't go past 300 hrs though. They have the same springs with minimal seat pressure. Now this recommendation is for a stock 700. With the Whipple upgrade and increased rpm, I would certainly consider it at 200. The springs just don't have the seat pressure to keep the valve on the seat at higher than stock rpms.
I would be glad to set you up with the parts you need Dean.
Eddie

575cat

Eddie can you give me a call when you get a free minute 612 978 9897

Young Performance

Certainly Dean. Call you in a bit.

ozarkdevil

So hustlerguy what work has Mark done for you that you are so impressed with him?

hustlerguy

I won't go into detail other than everything he has ever done has worked just as he said, everything he's ever recommend or done or sent to friends has worked as he said. He gets things done quickly and responds to questions.
Since your from the ozarks ask performance boat center who the trust to rebuild and program the motors they put in customers boats.

Young Performance

Mark is a great guy that does great work. I wouldn't hesitate to have him do something for me.
Eddie

teaguecustommarine

AGREED! Mark is on the short list of people in the country that we contact to share technical information and help mutual developments...

To the OP, the gold cranes have to go ASAP. There was a point in time when we believe they started sourcing bearings from the lowest bidder. Maybe late 2007. The same rockers that we had run the crap out of in all kinds of applications went from excellent to junk overnight. Same story with the hydraulic roller lifter manufacturing getting sent to Mexico....

If you aren't going to pull the heads and change the valves or cam, the stock installed height limits your spring options. That being said if you aren't going to change the lifters and cam and go for more RPM, you don't really need to change the springs. Rockers are a must. We have both upgrade and stock replacement parts options on the shelf.

Whats most important is you are talking to the right group of shops right here!

Hope this helps!
John Teague

hardcore

Mr. Teague, I have a set of 2015 stock 700's in my boat and have no plans to increase the power. Are you saying these newer engines also have gold crane rockers of questionable quality and should be replaced ?

Thanks, Mark

teaguecustommarine

No they do not. Mercury switched to a Scorpion produced rocker just like we did in the 2008-2009 time frame.

Simple way to check is pop off the oil fill cap and look. The Scorpions are a cool blue/silver color. The cranes were yellow/gold

JT