articfriends

iTrader: (1)

Mcollinstn,sorry to question your #'s,i thought b-max was a humungus top set up with a bravo sportmaster lower and pictured prop shaft needing preload to maintain fwd lower gear backlash like a normal bravo. If these things need the owner to tighten propshaft as normal maintenance it should include explicit instructions and a prop carrier nut wrench,Smitty

mcollinstn

Smitty,

Your concept was correct. BMAx can use regular Bravo lower. This particular BMax has the "BMAX sourced" lower casting, but uses XR parts in the lower (or at least XR sizes and styles, some of which are Merc parts and I believe other parts are not).

As far as what preload or endplay is optimal, I don't know. I DO know that last year (2003) I was very concerned about the end play and we simply had no way to change it aside from using a drift punch and hammer, which my friend was not comfortable with me doing. At that time, the "bad" shaft had well over 0.070" and the other had 0.015" or so. The end result was two lowers shearing the studs off, and one side losing the shaft seal (the one with all the endplay). While at Jamestown in 2003, somebody stopped and chatted with us about the BMaxes and said that over 0.050" was way too much, but the .015" was fine.

A Merc carrier nut wrench should work on these, mine was a homemade one that clipped onto a 1/2" drive breaker bar. The hollow section on mine is too small to fit the large propshaft. I do agree that a carrier nut wrench oughta be included.

On these BMaxes, I'm only spouting what I've been told. I have never seen a manual or any setup specs. So far the sources of my info are: my friend relaying what Comp Marine tells him, relaying what David Woods' drive setup man told him, what Dean told him, and what the guy at Cumberland told ME. I don't want to spread any misinformation so I'll try my best to quantify where I got my info.

***************************************

42MTI,

Yeah, he told me about your boat. Was throwing stuff out there for me to juggle with to help advise him. Randy was telling him about it. He didn't mention whether you two had spoken or not.

Right now, he is really attached to the paint job on his boat (he designed it all by his lonesome). His original boat was the one briefly owned by Julie Sullivan until she had to try to pay for it. That boat is owned by Bourget and is available. Just like he left it, except the Sterlings were swapped for EFI Eickerts. That boat has the identical paint job that he has now (I told you he was attached to it). Then there's your boat. He's a little shaky on the no-name motors. He's not acting "allergic" to them, but as you can certainly understand, they are kind of an unknown quantity to him so there's room for concern.

He's currently leaning towards fixing his current drives and keeping his current boat.

I've not tried to sway him in any particular direction, other than to remind him that he's lost a lot of boating time due to aggravating breakage problems and he's never been able to run the boat hard with confidence.

I WILL add that the right "deal" could CERTAINLY sway his decision. I'm aware that you are drooling over getting your new MTI started, and you need to realize that you have a hungry fish in the pond right NOW. Once he spends more money on this boat, it will be THAT much harder to get him out of it (the old "I cant sell this truck cause I just put a tranny and a new tires on it" concept). And you are competing pretty much against the Bourget boat with the "right" paint job and "known" motors. And the number being tossed around for it has come down a SIGNIFICANT amount and is raising his eyebrows...

mc

WILDTHING TAZ

No Prop Shaft Tighting Not A Normal Maintance. But When They Are Loose And You Run The Boat It's Only Your Falt The Shaft Breaks! When Your Looking At Your Drives No Matter Who Makes The Drive Don't Tell Me You Don't Turn Your Props To See What They Feel Like. And If You Don't You Don't Have Enough Horse Power To Worry About It.

merlin540

lets just face it all of these so called bravo upgraded drives wont take the power PERIOD! all of these combo's have there issues and i dont see any reliable answers. that why i have stayed with 1.36xz's w/imco lowers on my 970hpx2 cat at 125mph and #5's on my 145plus mph skater. yes they have issues also but you get what you pay for seeya charlie amann white oak auto and marine cinti oh

KNOT-RIGHT

What do these drives have in common?



They dont Break.....

Resale Value I didnt know there was such a thing in boating.
Betch ya that guy dosnt spin his props.



Arneson
BPM
SCS
Trimax
Pulsedrive
Weisman

Have I missed one?

The solution is pick one of the above.
Otherwise your playing games.
Just my O2.

Outdrive1

Rob, I'm having the same problems in reverse only. What did you do to finally fix this? I put new cables and pulled the back plate off to check that I was getting the full amount of adjustment while shifting into reverse. It cannot pull the arm over any farther but it still won't engage reverse. I wont live with it like mentioned in this thread. I want to be able to dock and drive through the channel in Havasu without worrying that I'll run into something or someone.

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

The brass/bronze cone that is pressed into the gears that the clutch seats up against has a slight angle to it that lets it roll out of gear. This is what Dean at The bravo shop said was wrong with my B Max. This does not sound like your prob.I would ck with Mr Gagddits on this board if its a barvo.

Your having trouble going into reverse? You know there is ajustment in the shifter in the dash also.It still sounds like a ajustment prob.Mine just wouldnt come out of gear.

Rob

Outdrive1

Mines is a B-Max, and as far as adjustment you couldn't move the arm or the fork over any farther. It is adjusted to give the fork the maximum amount of throw yet reverse still won't engage.

What is Deans # or how do I get a hold of him?

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

email
[email protected]
phone
1800-792-7286

http://www.bravoshop.com/


maybe the bravo cable got streached ?

The arm that connects to the fork arm has a little bend to it , also the piece that attaches to the cable has a little ajustment there, not much.it also has loc tite on it and can twist the arm/rods if your not careful.

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

....................1

also dont grab the brass threaded sleave hard with plyers it will bend, close up and you will not get the cable end in the end of it .Had a repaired drive came back to me that way.Friday night trying to go to a poker run, had to hone out the thread tops to beable to get the cable end into the brass sleave .wasn't much thread left but it held and I ordered a spare that monday

Hope this helps
Rob