Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Hi,

I have a 1990 454 Magnum with a Bravo 1 drive with nise cone turning a 28" bravo 1 4 blade prop. Its pushing a 20'7'" Eliminator v-bottom with a raised x-dimesion 3" higher than stock.

And the top gear wear the drive shaft enters the upper lower unit, has split.

What would cause that?

What can be done to improve it?

Is this common?

Would a drive shower have saved it?

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Had that happen to me a couple weeks ago, yes it's common. Usually caused be re-entry into the water after getting air from a wave. You need to back off on the throttle when out of the water, then get back on it when your back in the water. The shock on the gears when re-entering with out backing down is too great for them to handle. you can get away with a few that you miss. but eventually you will break them. Also, the more HP you have over 500hp. The more often they will break :mad: The XR drive is a little more beefier.

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Thanks for the info, are there any better gears that will fit my drive? I assume the XR has a different housing.

What is the purpose of a drive shower? How dod you tell if it is needed? (my understanding is if you see white chalky stuff on the drive cap than it is running to hot)

I don't see that, but it does get hot that you can't touch it for very long.

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

There are a few after market HP shops that sell gears.

A drive shower does not help in this case, and yes if you have that white chalky stuff most likly your out drive is running hot. :)

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

If its too hot to touch, you need a shower. Period!

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Love to see the brave sole that will hang off the transom while under way and touch the out drive :eek: :D Because once you come to a stop, That outdrive cools to fast being under water an all :)

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Not always the case. I noticed lately that I can run at cruise speed w/o any WOT runs, come off plane and idle thru the marine, back into my slip, then wait for the lift to lift the boat out of the water. (approx 5 min of the drives being in the water) Then while wiping the boat down, I can still feel some heat in the drive uppers. This is using a shower too.

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

have a drive guy have a look...i can't see from here, eating ice cream on my couch, to provide you with anything besides... irresponsible speculation.

you should be able to run standard gears...the gears that would replace yours are updated and are less prone to having the floor blown out of them.

drive showers...really don't do all that much...but...

you may (do it) want to have a good prop shop look at your wheel...inaccuracies WILL cause excessive gear wear and or damage due to vibration torsionals....this is also true on the other end...gimbal bearing, u-joints, and engine alignment... good time to have a look at the system as a whole...always sucks to spend money on the effect,,,not the cause(root that is)...good luck...lets us know what they/u find?

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Thanks gang for all the info.

Mercruiser no longer sells just the gear set, and it comes in an upgrade package, which includes gears clutch & ??, the gears are stonger. The drag is the package is $1,400.00 can$$ + install. So my alternative is buy a used 1998 bravo 1 drive for $2,800-$3,200 Can$$ But then I have a used drive that still needs to be repaired.

A bit of a catch 22, but I like the idea of fixing my drive (which has a nose cone) and saving a few bucks and not having the hassle of selling the old drive (repaired or as-is)

Any thoughts??

Thanks again!

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Too hot to touch is too hot? Not necessarily. A little over 140 degrees is too hot to hold your hand on. Not arguing that it's "too hot", just that it's hard to tell with touch.

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

I agree ..the "too hot to touch" is a relative term. I have a welder friend that could hold his damn hand under boiling water I think. :). I rebuilt my first alpha one a while back and it got sort hot afterwards but I never really payed much attention until I messed with it. I was scared I had the bearing pre load too hight. I think is was OK, as a buddies alpha with same type boat was about same. Anyhow, I could not hold my hand on it while boat was under way under highly loading conditions. Like someone said they cool off super quick when they go under water. I stuck a temp sensor on it and got about 165 deg F . I put about 150 hrs on boat before I sold it....far as I know still working OK. Just not being able to hold your hand on it is not really a bad sign. They make drive showers for a reason , so I guess lots of them get warm. BTW, my Volvo Penta in the new boat is way cooler.......:)

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

i have parts and i can fix that thing for a lot less then that pm me and let me know

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

Re: Drive Shower.

Many many options, I like the look of the one that has the full cap in polished aluminum,and the description sounds like it works well.

Any suggestions on what shower to get??

Thanks again

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

I don't know which shower is best. But when you find out, I'd just get it and put it on. They don't cost that much $ and it's good insurance.

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

a recent thread....

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ghlight=shower

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

I run the Billet marine Drive cap with built in shower. It is a heavier duty cap, and has a bigger bearing. It also has built in water passages that flow water around the top bearing, then dumps the water thru little holes all around the top of the drive. They cost around $230.oo, but it replaces the top Merc cap which is the weakest part of the drive. Here is the link to billet Marine. Theres a few other companies that build the same thing.
Billet Marine

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

One the thread quoted above, one guy talks about plumping the shower to the water pump. I would assume that gets more water to the cap. Has anyone seen photo's of what the install looks like?

P.S. That billet cap looks like it would work very well (and looks really cool as well!)

Re: Bravo 1 Upper gears split? Why? What can be done?
 

It's not to the water pump, but to the outside of the drive that feeds the water pump. You drill and tap into the side of the out drive where the water passage goes thru to feed the water pump inside.