Gents,
All great suggestions if it's a 700+ motor but unless he plans on upping the power from what he's running it is a lot of unnecessary money; even if at sea level.
The IMCO SC upper uses the same Merc XR gears however a better vertical shaft and is set up correctly. The SCX is a beast and is great for the big power guys but at a cost when it is required.
The only difference in the XZ and XR is the upper gear set. All else is equal so it would be a good candidate for the gear swap.
For you to be breaking drives and that mild hp level, I would have to think there is another gremlin in mix.
Dave
(PS, Quent/UD, CBLR is doing some extensive testing with blueprinted SCX lowers over on the Nordic section. You may be interested)

GAZ - you know personally that the drive had only 50hrs on it... or were you told this?? That boat with that motor should be perfect for a bravo..XZ or XR. I believe its a complete waste of money to get anthing other then a XR for it. The boat is light, only a 470hp at prop and I assume you do mostly lake boating.... That drive should last your hundreds of hours.

If you were told the drive was rebuilt.... I'd say that is where the problem is.... its not the drive/hp/weight of the boat...XR will be fine all day long.

I would like to S/C if I could find a drive that would last. Way to many XR/XZ drives failing for me to buy another. What makes the SCX a "beast"?

I do not know that personally. When I bought the boat with 135 hours on it I was told the drive had just been rebuilt. Two drives in 185 hours = Not Good.

I think if the drive broke with low hours on this boat an again with 50 hours on it. The casting was bad from get go. Every time in get a low hour drive that breaks I like to look for a new one. Bad from the start meens trouble with the casting. I really beleave this an have replaced drives with no problem again. Just m 2 cents Artie

I would get a SCX with the #13 lower that looks cool like the SC and SCX-4 lower. They all use the larger and stronger upper and lower gears etc. Dont forget to upgrade your gimbal ring also. You might also benifit from a standoff box in that case a arneson 7 would be a overall better bang for the buck imo. just the arneson and scx-4 take more to dial in. Arneson will be the fastest and strongest.

good luck. we all are tired of breaking xr style drives

Whats a # 13 lower?

Just a scx lower that looks like a sc or a scx-4. Imco claims its just cosmetic and does not gain any speed over the traditional scx lower. Its not advertised or on the website.

I am just going to say this... the company you bought the boat form had no history with it... they cleaned it up and flipped it. I remember the boat -saw it for sale in Havasu for some time... Nothing bad but I'm guessing that is the first time it broke... Maybe telling you it had been rebuilt or replaced was just a used car salesmen assurance...
Just get an XR on it and you'll be fine... it will last longer then you'll own the boat.. just a guess...

Just don't want to see you waste money...

Good luck.

What makes an SCX a beast is that it uses a larger set of upper gears- significantly bigger which makes them harder to turn therefore "costing" top end speed albeit with a significant return on longevity.


The Imco SC, and Teague platinum have different shafts and braces in them to stiffen them up.

The 29 although light for its size is still very hard on drives. External steering and an upgraded drive by a reputable company will give you a decent shot at life.

You can play some trick on components that will help make a little 500HP unit live a while though like a rem polish but unless you are jumping waves you wont snap a platinum shaft XR.

Anything not documented with an hour meter stamp/ and Date is meaningless in terms of rebuild.

Ultimately though " it is what it is" when it comes to the XR drive and its variants that use Mercury upper gears.



Uncle Dave