Broke the drive
 

Well this weekend is not going as planned. I installed a remote oil filter thermostat set up and my fittings are leaking :mad: The oil temp sender or gauge is not reading :mad: The new matched water temp sender still is not working :mad: and last night I blew out my drive :eek: Had to be towed in , that really sucked.

Not sure what let go. seems like the lower section. It reminded me of missing a gear in a four speed.

So, I guess I have run out of excuses for not working on the basement. I will jack myself up on coffee and start hanging light fixtures and feeling sorry for my poor baby in the garage.

Re: Broke the drive
 

D@mn, I know what it feels like! :( But I'm getting my brand new Bravo XR delivered today or tomorrow! :evilb:

Will post some pictures as soon as I have mounted the new drive.

Re: Broke the drive
 

I guess I missed that Tomas. You broke yours also?

Re: Broke the drive
 

Sorry to hear that. There is an XZ upper listed in the swap section.

If you rebuild yours, cryo will help. I know you know where to have it done.

Good luck.

Re: Broke the drive
 

(Boat) Break Out Another Thousand , they alway's seem to get you on a holiday weekend , boating sucks !!!!
Tear it apart Tom , you will start feeling better once you see what broke and order up some parts .
Good luck , I bet you will be on the water next weekend !!!

Re: Broke the drive
 

I wish it would only cost a grand. :(
I'm think'n of pulling the drive after I eat a greasy hamburgerler

Re: Broke the drive
 

Talon 25 :

Boat " Break Out Another Tenthousand" :) :)

Re: Broke the drive
 

Yep! :( On completely flat water late in the evening, 4500rpm. The upper vertical shaft just snapped...

I got about $1000 for the lower and I'm getting the new XR for $6k. So it ended up with about 5k for a brand new XR out of the box directly from Mercury, including a new support bearing and some other minor stuff. :)

Re: Broke the drive
 

Guess that IMCO drive was kind a sissy.....
I'll let our sterndrive mechanic take a look at my XR drive before my Pantera hit water....

My Pantera (Bruce ex..) is in Gothenburg now and I'll have it deliverd to Stockholm in wednesday if everything works out well.....

But Tomas, your boat handle big water well, it was a lot fun before the IMCO-drive checked out....

Re: Broke the drive
 

same thing happened to me, on plain running about 40 ish and started to hammer down and just as I was pushing the stick it went. Felt just like missing a gear in a car.
Flat water at the end of the day leaving out of a cove

Re: Broke the drive
 

Sorry to hear that Tom. It was 2 years ago when my TRS blew, same thing about 4500rpm and the splined shaft that plugs into the tranny broke just ahead of the ujoints. I knew at the time that eventually something was to fatigue and break but I expected it to be in the drive or tranny. There just is not enough time to CAT scan every single part every year to look for possible flaws. Chris

Re: Broke the drive
 

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Chris I have your parts in a box ,I just need to run by fed x

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Yep, and in a couple of weeks I'm gonna beat your Pantera ass out on the water! :evilb: :drink:

Re: Broke the drive
 

Oh yeea...? I bet you have to feed ya self with vlium and buy some xtra diapers bofore that ride!!!!

Re: Broke the drive
 

HAHAHAHAHA!!! :D

The valium is already bought and the diapers are all yours! :evilb: :p

Re: Broke the drive
 

Hey Tom , so what did you find out ? Did you ever get it apart ?

Re: Broke the drive
 

hey Morgan, not apart yet. decided to clean my shop so I could find the out drive if I removed it. :D

I hope to pull off the lower this afternoon.

Re: Broke the drive
 

I went thru my upper this winter cause a rock ledge got friendly with the lower (replaced the lower with a new Imco).

I was told the existing XR (03 vintage) vert shaft had a tendency to crack starting from an oil hole and merc had released a newer design shaft- I had it put in for piece of mind, was about $200.

Re: Broke the drive
 

Hey Tomcei, Sorry to hear about your drive that sucks. How much power are you putting to it?

Hey Morgan, Hows the boat coming along? Pantera should have you in the water soon, after your done then they start getting to mine. So hurry up and get that thing out of there. :) just kidding should be a great summer.

Re: Broke the drive
 

Hey mike it's 600+

I found a stock xr lower with a couple of test hours only

Also found a standard bravo upper that is suposed to have all imco guts, steel tower floors and imco shafts, gears etc.,etc.

I was told this "standard bravo" upper was now stronger than a stock xr. Is this true??

Re: Broke the drive
 

It probably is more dependant on setup and assembly then IMCO vs Merc XR. I would think that either would be a good upgrade from XZ as long as the machine work and assembly was done properly on the IMCO.

Re: Broke the drive
 

Tom , sounds like you found good upper and lowers , did you find out what failed in yours ?
Good luck

Hey Mike Formula , Did you get power for your new 28 yet ?

Re: Broke the drive
 

Hey Talon25, I've decided to go with 600 cubic inch motor from Randy @ Cobra. I thought about motors for a long long time and decided to go this route just cause I thought the 525 (originally wanted) would be just a little under powered, and the fact that everyone is going with 540's and stuff i didn't want to be the slow one in the group :) I was very impressed with the performance they were getting out of Mike Berg's boat.

Re: Broke the drive
 

the lower is toast. I found metal flakes all through the oil. A few small chunks on the magnets. The lower shafts spin independent of one another and it sounds like and feels like rocks are in there. The upper is most likely ok. I will have it gone through and I will mate it to a take off (new) XR.
I hope to have them finished this week if I'm lucky. I found the XR lower for 750.00 :D :D :drink: :drink:

Re: Broke the drive
 

Is that a '72 Camaro?

Good find on the lower. :D

Re: Broke the drive
 

Yep, 72 RS. it's my next project. I'm just so into the boat I can't get into doing much with it right now. It sure would be cheaper :eek:

Re: Broke the drive
 

Tom ,
Just read your post - that sucks !
Well like I told you , 6-8 races on that drive and it never let me down . Sorry to see it blew on you .
But **** , I am surprised the lower let go , and not the upper .
Anyway , hope its running fine otherwise !

Re: Broke the drive
 

No complaints Jerry :D

I dropped off the drive this morning and was told it wouldn't be finished by this weekend :(

I still have plenty to do

Re: Broke the drive
 

where did you take it?

Re: Broke the drive
 

Now the new Bravo XR is mounted. Just a couple of minor things left - have to change the spacers within the trim cylinders to fit Bravo. No biggie! :D

Re: Broke the drive
 

??? What do mean by changing the spacers? Is this to limit the amout of trim out? Why is it different with the XR?

Thanks, Todd

Re: Broke the drive
 

I believe it is to limit the trim out (since you mount them inside the rear end of the cylinders). I have no idea why it's different from IMCO. :rolleyes:

It might have something to do with the different u-joint.

What do the rest of you guys say?!

Re: Broke the drive
 

I'm not following?? Give us pics.
I know I have a bar/axel that runs through the tail end of the drive that the trim cylinders bolt to. There is a spacer/shim that rides next to it and takes up the extra space. the hole is oval to allow the axel to be move slightly forward or rearward. I'm not sure about the application but I am reassembling mine the same way it came apart. It seems to shift the range of movement.

Re: Broke the drive
 

My drive will be ready tomorrow. I wont be back in town in time to pick it up till Mon. I guess I will install it this next week :(

Re: Broke the drive
 

It's this little troublemaker!

Re: Broke the drive
 

I used those on my last boat to keep the drive from hitting the platform after I added the external steering.

I have heard that you should use them to limit the amount of trim with XR's to keep from damaging the larger u-joints.

Re: Broke the drive
 

Tom, If you need me to pick up the drive today, let me know. I can get it back to the shop and you can pick it up from here if that will help. We will be running all weekend in the machine shop.

Todd

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Tom ,how are you making out with the new drive ? Have you got a chance to get out and run her again ?

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I just put the drive on a stand/jack tonight I will mount it tomorrow after work. I need to pick up a water hose adapter for the low water pickup so I can test it then I'll run it over to the lake on Sat morrning. Work has been killing me I haven't had the time I need to finish it.....also kinda burned out :eek: