Just got off the phone with mechanic. Upper gears are pitted. He said this is common wear before catastrophic failer.

Drive was abused before I bought it. At one point it had a procharged 500 efi, around 750 HP. Long WOT runs, drive oil never changed. When it was changed it was black.

I brought it in to be looked at because of hesitation when shifting into reverse.

Superboat 30 Y2k, single, 5000lbs+

Any comments/expalanations??? Or just from abuse?

Hey PE,
Smart move going through your drive before running it with that new blower motor of yours...
I would guess you are right on; abuse and lack of maintenance...
From what I have read, the upper gears are the weak link.
The only comparison I have for you would be my buddy's Fountain. 1997 29' Fountain, single 525sc, standard Bravo drive. Gregg's boat and drive has over 600 hours. The drive has never been touched other than u-joint grease and oil changes every 50hours. The oil has always come out as clean as it has gone in...

I'm suprised it made 75hrs. If the gears start to have teeth marks pressed into them, your on borrowed time. Replace and be done with it, unless you plan to run under 500HP.

The clock is ticking fast on that one

That is normal wear on the upper XR gears. Depending on power applied, I have seen 70hrs on one set and two teeth on the driven gear were cracked. Not sure how it got on the trailer that day!! But that was 950hp and run very hard!! A lot of drag race time.. But we caught it before it was catastrophic.. Usual time on XR gears is about 250hrs as I have been told. All depends on driving habits, maintenace and setup... and good lube. You did a wise thing, having it checked.

Hope this helps
Dick

If you want more advice, post a picture of the gears.

Hey Pat!! Hope all is well!! I have not seen them yet but he described it as "small craters" in the gears. Hopefully I can make this drive live, I am very easy on my equipment, but there are times when.......well you know

Or thinking of B-Max or other drive may be the way to go. It's all an expensive crap shoot!!

I am very easy on my equipment

Yea, when it's tied up at Claudios...I've seen you run it easy

It seems like the early xr gears were not as good as the newer ones. I had one of the early sets (around 2001-2002) that started wiping out the upper pinion gear after 90 hours with (then)750 hp. Replaced them and its been the LOWER gears that won't last for me. My uppers are going on almost 200 hours with 750 hp then 950 hp,my lowers are trashed at 50 hours or so. I change oil every 10 hours or so,there is ALWAYS metal in it,Smitty

Yea, mine is either 01 or 02. My mechanic said it is usually the lowers that go.