1999 42 fountain with 500 hps bravo drives not sure what bravo (1) (2) i have a bet going my friend jc was told that the bravo only gets about 75 hours before it has to be gone thru gears shims etc.i told him if he changes the gear oil regulary 20 hours he should get a lot more like three hundred.he is only a weekend boater and does not drive the boat hard.can you please give me your feed back.

I have a set of Bravo XR's going on 250hrs. I replaced on gear but it was preventative......

I got about 450 hours out of my old drive. It was finally rebuilt when the clutches gave up the ghost. The drive wouldn't stay in gear at slow speeds and would clunk in and out. It kinda felt like you could feel the prop blades striking something hard. Freeked me out the first couple of times.

I have over 400 hours on mine. 200 of those with 365 hp and 200 with close to 600hp.

I change gear oil every 25 hours and have had a drive shower on for 8 of 9 years

Still runs strong. I truly believe that the reason it is still going is because my drive shower is a billet aluminum cap that reinforces the top cap of the Bravo, which is a weak link, plus I run special gear lube with an additive

thanks guys

Bigwavz,

Hi, I was launching next to you for the River Shiver (27' Whippled Fountain). Tell me more about the gear lube you're using. I'm running Mobil Synthetic gear lube in a Teague Platinum XR. No problems 734HP, 65 hrs.

Thanks,

Mark S

If you want a drive that lasts buy a TRS boat

LS

I would also like that gear lube info, I am about to change mine.

personally i like the mercury hi performance gear lube. i have not seen anything that works as good.

I have a 2001 Top Gun with XR's and 500 EFI's. The boat has about 130 hours on it, and I lost a drive a couple of weeks ago.

I broke the vertical shaft and the top cap was destroyed as well. Teague fixed the drive, and said that Mercury has since come out with a new vertical Shaft (supposed to be stronger) which they installed.

I also had them install billet top caps because, as was mentioned above, they are a weak link. This was according to Teague as well.

I was running red Line synthetic, but swithced to AmsOil synthetic. This was recommended by Teague.

Overall I have been happy with the XR's. I have run the boat hard and this is the first problem I have had. I change the engine and drive oil every 25 hours.