I have some 175 hour 1995 Bravo 1's that have been running showers and HiPerf lube their entire lives behind some 502 Mag carb motors. The previous B1's were 1991 models and I lost three of them before upgrading to the 95's and their better clutches (and added showers).

Now I am getting ready to send 750 horses thru them.

I have an option to buy a pair of nice XR's for $9,000. Should I upgrade my existing 1995 Bravo 1's or should I buy the 2002 XR's.

Will the XR's be stout enough or should I add some upgrades to them before running them hard?

Will I be just as well off to upgrade my B1's ?

Thoughts?
Opinions?

Buy the xr's, I have a new one for 6,000 obo, but I only have one

MC, Talk to Mr.Gadgets he would be a good one to ask. He modified his and can tell you the ups and the downs about it.

Check with Curtis at Billet Marine. He has a nice XR upgrade kit that uses the B1 u-joints. You will have to install the gimbal upgrade kits if you put XR drives on, if your gimbal SNs don't start with OM. I think the upper housing near the u-joints are thinner on the XR drives.

If these are used drives, be sure to check the upper gears very closely. Several people, including myself, had problems with the teeth on the gears. We think Merc had a bad run of them that hit the market last spring.

There is a long thread talking about this around December. I think the thread topic had something to do with gear lube.

IF YOUR BOAT WEIGHT IS TO HEAVY,XR'S MAY NOT HELP YOU WITH THAT MUCH HP.

I would buy the XR's...I know someone who's pushing about 700+HP trough some on a 42 Tiger with no issues.

I still "think" I want to stay with a Bravo-based drive, as opposed to a BMax or PSI.

I'm just trying to figure out whether I should get my std B1's sent to Teague or somebody versus the XR swap.

Boat is around 9000 pounds with full fuel.

"...Several people, including myself, had problems with the teeth on the gears. We think Merc had a bad run of them that hit the market last spring".

First I've heard of it. Are you saying used last year as in the 2002 Bravo drives or older ones?...Where can one read up on these problems and how to detect them?...

What is the cost of the upgrade to the Bravo?

Here's a link to a thread that talks about the XR gear problem.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ighlight=rbtnt