88 top gun TRS drives good or bad
#1
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From: Washington
Looking at becoming a big kid and move up to the offshore performance boats . Looking at a 38 ft 88 top gun . It has TRS drives and just want to know pros and cons and also price. They are asking 58k which seems high..here are the engines .540 bulldogs built to 556ci
any info would be great
any info would be great
#2
My opinion with having 700 ish HP in front of TRS drives...
The drives are reliable to 550 HP, 600 ish and above they are time bombs, the most hours I seen with new gears are 95 hours the lower gears just will not take it long unless you baby the boat and do not run it hard often, guys will say they have no issues but if that's the case they do not use the boat as it is supposed to be, you are probably looking at the all white one, to me it's over priced, I cannot see paying anything over 45,000 for any TRS gun... you will have issues with the bigger power and want to change the setup later..
I keep 3-4 spare drives at all times so I do not miss any weekends of boating..
The drives are reliable to 550 HP, 600 ish and above they are time bombs, the most hours I seen with new gears are 95 hours the lower gears just will not take it long unless you baby the boat and do not run it hard often, guys will say they have no issues but if that's the case they do not use the boat as it is supposed to be, you are probably looking at the all white one, to me it's over priced, I cannot see paying anything over 45,000 for any TRS gun... you will have issues with the bigger power and want to change the setup later..
I keep 3-4 spare drives at all times so I do not miss any weekends of boating..
#3
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From: Union, KY
I just sold a 1986 Cigarette Café with built 502's running 600HP with TRS drives. Never had any problems with the drives at all. Nor did the previous 2 guys prior to me either. Just regular oil changes. Sold the boat 4 months ago for $56,000.00.
#4
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From: Washington
How did you run your cafe? Another guy I spoke to , went through 4 drives in one summer . I find it hard to believe but also ridiculous. I do want the cig , but it is over priced for the headache . I'm just not educated enough to understand these types of drives . Thank for the info guys.
#5
I can assure if a Trs lives at 600 hp it's not getting abused, search around they are not known to take much past 550 without issues, merc never put them in anything above 450 hp for a reason ...
#6
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From: Washington
Thx full force , yeah I was looking at the all white one , with the red hawk . Great looking boat but saw the TRS set up and went
. Maybe I'll keep researching and my other choice is a 38 lighting . The space in the cig is just big .
. Maybe I'll keep researching and my other choice is a 38 lighting . The space in the cig is just big .
#7
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From: Union, KY
How did you run your cafe? Another guy I spoke to , went through 4 drives in one summer . I find it hard to believe but also ridiculous. I do want the cig , but it is over priced for the headache . I'm just not educated enough to understand these types of drives . Thank for the info guys.
#8
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From: Washington
I don't even jump waves , I might run a boat up to 4000 rpms but only for a brief minute then I back off. I would obviously upgrade the drives later that summer. But I baby everything . Other people can go fast for me lol. Also what kind of speed do these hull get , with this power and equipped with right drives.
#9
I used mine on the Ohio River and Lake Cumberland. Lake Cumberland becomes quit rough at times. I ran the boat hard at times but tried to baby it out of the hole. I didn't mind running it hard in rough water, but just know when to pull back the sticks when jumping waves.
#10
I don't even jump waves , I might run a boat up to 4000 rpms but only for a brief minute then I back off. I would obviously upgrade the drives later that summer. But I baby everything . Other people can go fast for me lol. Also what kind of speed do these hull get , with this power and equipped with right drives.



