Bravo Top Cap
 

What are the advantages of using a top cap on a pair of XR drives? Who has the best product? Are they different for B1s and XR/XZs?
My boat uses through hull water pick-ups for the engine. What was changed to stop the water from coming through the drive?

Thanks
Shawn

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

The difference between a billet upper bearing cap and a stock Merc cap is that the stock cap is thin and not made of billet. It can flex under extreme loads. I have used Teagues billet caps for a long time without any issues. My cap has fit my stabdard Bravo 1 H.P. drive as well as my "XR" . I am not sure about an "XZ"

Somewhere the stock drive water pick-up was blocked on your boat. The seawater hose gets removed from the gimbal and fitted to your tru-hull water pick-up.

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

LOOK AT BILLET MARINE CURTIS MAKES A REAL GOOD CAP.WWW.BILLETMARINE.COM

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

Shawn,
Some caps are better than others. When you replace a top cap, the depth of the bearing race is important. If it is not the same as the original or parallel to the cap mounting surface, it will affect gear alingment. I have used the Teague caps and they are very close in tolerance. Merc also makes the ITS top cap and it is thicker, and has a steel tower in it. It isnt billet, but it is much better than the stock caps and not too bad in price. The difference in the B1 and X drives are the height of the tower and race that the gear bearing rides on. You cant use an X cap on a B1, but you can use a B1 cap on the new X gears. There is clearance in the new gears for that, so you can upgrade the B1 to X gears, highly recommend.
On the water pickup question. The Bravo drive is dependant on water traveling thru it for cooling. If you are using transom pickups, you should route the water thru the drive and exit the boat. A nice place is to put fittings on the transom so the water hits the top of the drive. A water shower is also recommended in either case of transom pickup or drive source. I hope that has answered your questions. If not feel free to email me.

Dick

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

i am running the billet marine caps they work great

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

My boat has Bravo XR drives with the thicker finned Merc ITS top cap that Mr. Gadgets/Dick installed for me. I have both a low water pickup in the drive AND a transom mounted pick-up. Here's a shot of how I rigged the plumbing from the low water pickup to where it will eventually dump out side the boat via a through-hull 45* angle cooling dump that shoots the water right on top of my drive caps. It really worked out nicely.

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

Here's another shot of the water line/plumbing from the low water pick-up of my drive to the through hull fitting/cooling dump...

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

In this shot I am using a small piece of pointed lumber to point out the 45* angle cooling dump. By the way, if you look closely you will see the YELLOW transom mounted pick-up in the shot (visible just underneath the extension box). You will aslo see that I still use the Simrek "halo" drive shower on my drives.

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

Dick, I recall your previous post on top cap tolerances. Does the ITS top cap and a XZ top cap share the same dimension? Can I just swap my XZ top cap for an ITS cap ore will I need to set up the gears again?

Re: Bravo Top Cap
 

Dick, thanks for the input, as always very informative.

Mark, your set up looks great.

I have Billet Marine top caps on the XRs with the water plumbed out the side to feed the top cap. I just bought a pair of XZs as spares and will drill and tap the side so I can swap the top cap and hose in case I need to swap one of the drives. I decided not to buy and extra set of top caps just to sit around until needed.


Thanks
Shawn