Okay, the UPS man delivered the uppers back today from D*ick Tryce.

He rebuilt my two backup upper units. First he checked the housings thoroughly, then replaced all the bearings and seals. Then we updated from the stock XZ gears to new XR gears that were first shipped to California to be Cryogenically treated. Then he added new Max Machine Worx Billet Top Caps and the Max drive shower. Last but not least are the new IMCO 5 bolt back caps for the steering and tie bar.

I have been selling bearings to D*ick for over two years now and I have really come to appreciate him as one of the best "SETUP" men in the outdrive industry.

D*ick is a perfectionist and even set the backlash up on each drive according to which one would be running forward, and which in reverse.

He likes you to break the drives in by the following schedule.

First run the drives about 15 minutes not exceeding 3500 RPM. Come off plane and let them cool. Repeat this process a couple of times and gradually start increasing the RPM and time run and repeat the off plane cooling process.

He says this allows for heat expansion and contraction and everything seats better in place for the long haul.

He also likes you to change the oil a 5 hours, then 10 hours, then every 20 hours or so. Even though he admits he is bad about running his 40 to 50 hours between oil changes. I have always done mine every 20 hours.

Now for the funny part. I asked and he told me.

D*ick, What drive oil do you like?

Well I was not expecting his answer, and told him after I quit laughing that he was pushing the craziest snake oil formula I had ever heard of.

He recommends using Royal Purple Max 75W90 with 5 ozs of Pro-Long Engine Treatment mixed in for each drive. He said he was told about the Pro-Long many years ago by a buddy in California and after much success he is convienced it makes a difference. He said you can spin his props out of the water and they keep spinning!

D*ick ran many tests a few years ago with his boat looking for the the coolest drive temps possible and said the above combination yielded the best temps by over 10 degrees.

Not sure what I am going to run yet, still sitting on the fence, but he assured me that if I stay with the Merc I have been running they will do fine.

Here is D*ick's business card if anyone is interested in his services, or would just like to call and ask him a question. Tell him Dock sent you.

__________________________________________________ _____
D*ick's Performance Marine, LLC
Holland Michigan

D*ick Tryce
AKA Mr. Gadgets

Specialitizing in the Repair and Blueprinting of Bravo Outdrives for Performance Applications.

616-335-8446
616-403-1006 Cell
__________________________________________________ _____

While up at Lake Erie year before last we met MANY very happy customers of D*ick's. He is THE MAN up in that area. They all say the samething, "HE UNDERSTANDS SETUP BETTER THEN ANYONE ELSE".

D*ick builds the drives for the Baja H2X that has ran the LOTO Shootout twice at over 115 MPH. This guy HAMMERS this boat like no one else out of the hole. he was breaking a drive every month before D*ick started working with him and they almost made it a full summer last year. I also know a very happy Black Thunder owner, and we know how hard BT's are on outdrives.

Just wanted to share this information.

Here are a few pictures.

Dock

Well sorry buddy, OSO does not like your First name?

A couple of more pictures.

Mark,
thank you so very much for the plug.. Although some of the facts are a little off.. the H2X went 109mph and just one pass (best in his class to date), but the rest you got real close on.. except the part about being one of the best.. (Still learning, and having some good luck with it!!)
You either have a good memory or where writing at warp speed.. LOL! I forgot to mention that I greased the input shafts with spline grease, the reason for the plastic bags.

I am glad to see the drives made the trip looking like they left here!! Congrats to UPS for a good job!!

And yes the last upgrade at OSO.. has put the clamps on my first name.. Not sure why??? Been called **** all my life!!
So now I guess I will have to spell it differently??

D*i*c*k

(filter that one!!

Just for the record, D*ick as helped me learn how to set up my own drives. His experience and knowledge is second to none. He has convinced me to use his "Snake oil" concoction of oil in my drive this season. I too have a set of cryo gears. I guess we will see how well they work in a few months.

Keep us posted.

I have never seen anyone go to the pains he has. If he was charging me by the hour I would not have been able to afford it.

Would it be an advantage to use "Richard's Snake Oil" in a standard Bravo setup ?

I'm a happy Black Thunder owner. D*ick built me a pair of XR uppers last winter. I mated them to a pair of Imco -2 shorties and couldn't be happier. At last years Put-In-Bay poker run we had 8 people on the boat, luggage, 2 full coolers and alot of gas and the boat still went 75 gps. After 40 hrs of running fairly hard there is no metal on the magnets.

offthefront..
I have been told that it is a good thing for all of the Bravo drives. So the answer is Yes!

D*i*c*k

PS.. thank you Vinny and Ian!!

One great Idea I saw was the "cool Swirl"... pumps the oil from the drive thru a cooler .... "their" test showed oil temps lowered close to 100* ....

http://www.drewmarine.com/products/c...coolswirl.html

Dock,,, its worth the extra bucks to run the Royal Purple,,, I have used it for 4yrs with the Apache and one drive lasted over 300hrs when we went thru it just because,,,, I am a firm believer in Royal Purple products..

RHC