I have a 1999 Brave 1 drive. What is need to swap it to a XR drive

I believe the gimbal brng will have to be changed.

Gimbal bearing and trim limiter kit.

My XR went right on in place of the Bravo I with no bearing change or anything else. The input shaft on the XR is same size as the reg Bravo and the gimble bearing is the standard $50 part (Red Dot).

what year is your unit ?.

Boat is an 03. All 3 of my current drives range from 99 - 07. From very early OM to OW.

I loaned one of my drives to a neighbor who owned a 98 runabout. Again, the OW drive went right on the 98 transom assembly.

I may stand corrected but I don't think the size of the input shaft ever changed on the Bravo. The size of it changed on the "inside" of the case but not on the end that goes in the coupler.

On alpha's, it changed from 98 and up.

And if you really think about it...

Companies like Merc often times avoid redesigning every part so that selling upgraded parts becomes easier.

Of course, there are many exceptions to that but they knew a lot of reg Bravo owners would eventually like to upgrade to the XR once they broke something (like me).

The size of the input shaft has not changed.
The only reason you need the RED dot gimble or the new greaseless (dot is there no color in it) bearing is because the U-joints are bigger.

You also need the plastic U shapped part that go into the trim rams that limit the travel in the up position. I think they are 1/2 inch.

If you need any part numbers let me know, I have the service Bulletin at home from switching from Bravo to an X drive.

I bet you have the red dot if you pull the drive.

Where would the red dot be