XZ Drive problem
 

I have 2003 ActiveThunder 28 Savage running a 525 with an XZ Drive and Bravo One 26P four blade. This past weekend I was running up the Potomac River at about 65 MPH in smooth water when the upper or lower or both pieces of drive blow out.

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? If,so please contact me and let me know what you found out.

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

AT28,
Very sorry to hear about your issue, and I hope you are still under warranty. I know of you and your boat, but I do not believe we have met. I have the 37AT "Monsoon", so make sure you stop me if you see me out. I live in Woodbridge.

As for your XZ. I am just learning about the drive myself, as my new boat has two of them, however; most Merc drives being somewhat equal in design and maintenance, can you give us some details? How many hours? How many hours on the fluid? Any sign of wear on your drain and vent plug magnets? On a scale of 1-10, ten being the hardest, how hard are you on your drive, coming out of the hole and such? Have you pulled the drive and done a visual, and lubed your grease fittings in the upper's U-joints?

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Brian,

Thanks for the reply and I will definitely keep an eye out for you on the Potomac. Now the question is when will I be back out on the water again?

Additional detail.

The boat has 64 hours on it. As for fluid changes and routine maintenance, I have been following the time tables outlined in the owner's manual, right down to using the all the products that mercury recommends. Prior to the incident I did not notice anything out of the ordinary, such as wear, noise, etc, everything seemed to be fine. As for how hard I am on the drive. Out of the hole I am actually very conservative, once on plane I let it roll. So if you put that on a scale of 1 to 10, then I would say a combined score would be 7 - 8.

Since the drive is still covered under warranty, expiration 9-30-04, I felt it was better not to mess with it until a Mercury authorized dealer/mechanic has looked at it. I am waiting to hear back from Tyme n Tyde later this week after they complete the inspection to determine the exact issue and damage.

John

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Well, as it has been said before... its not a matter of IF your drive goes; its WHEN your drive goes. I plan on extending my warranties, just to keep in the safe zone with my XZs and 496HOs. I hope T&T take care of you quickly. It sounds as though it was just time for your drive to go.

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Having extended warranties is the only way to go. On that same note, having the Boat US unlimited tow package is well worth the yearly cost, it saved me from one heck of a big tow bill, $1300.00.

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

hey John,

" on a combined score of 7-8"..... yeah right.

Tell the truth....I thought you told me the boat ran in (3) positions....WOT, neutral, and reverse....so where is the 7-8 position at???

Hope to see you on the water soon. Just bustin your balls

Adam

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

I think maybe the problem is to much horsepower. I would be glad to trade you the engine and drive out of my 28 for that trouble making engine and pile of scrap that was a drive.:D

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Adam,

How right you are, there are only 3 positions, Fast, Faster and even Faster. What was I thinking when I even tried to use the word conservative. ha,ha.

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Boatfreak28, I am speechless with overwhelming amazement with your generousity and willingness to trade engines and drives with me, WHAT A GREAT GUY YOU ARE. :D
If anyone ever says to me, "boaters don't look out for one another," I will direct them to your statement of generousity.

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

I don't know if this helps or not, but I have two XZ's on a 2002 Baja 36 behind 500 EFI's.

At 150 hours the port drive melted down. The top cap or top bearings or both just got so hot they melted and became one solid piece. There was metal from top to bottom and the drive lock up tight.

The boat was three weeks out of warranty and Mercury stepped up to the plate and gave me a brand new drive. I had it in two days and back in the water the following weekend.

I was very good to change my drive oil at 40 hours, and was running synthetic oil. Not really sure what caused the failure, but Mercury was very good to me and in talking with them they convienced me to stay with the Mercury oil.

Have since added billet top caps, and I cna the drive oil more frequenty at 20 to 30 hours and have not had a minutes trouble since.

I want to upgrade to IMCO drives because of plans for bigger power and currently have my drives for sale, asking $7000 for the pair.

A friend that had a 43 Black Thunder told be a few years ago that you should worry more about the drives and drive fluid than the engines. I think he is right.

I did three poker runs back to back and put right at 20 hours on the boat. Just changed the oil again last weekend, pulled the top caps and inspected them. All looks well, but drives are a mystery!

Good luck

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

Dock Holiday,

Thanks for the information. My previous boat, 2000 23 WellCraft Excalibur, experienced a similar problem with the upper unit and Mercury was excellent in stepping up to the plate. Granted it was under warranty but I was still impressed with how easy Mercury was to work with in resolving the problem. Hopefully everything will go just as smoothly this time around. I definitely agree with you and your friend regarding changing the drive oil every twenty hours, I have followed that model for both the engine and drive.

John

Re: XZ Drive problem
 

AT28 - sounds like with your luck with sterndrives you might want to consider surface drives or a jet boat :)

Good luck with your drive. I have not heard anything negative about the Bravo 1X, XZ, or XR until now. I hope it's not an issue that we are all going to start seeing.

Dave