Brovo X drive,needs beefing up

[John P]

If you had one with vibration there must have been something wrong inside I have 3 and no vibration at all.
As far as the hp rating is concerned it depends on the weight of the boat like any drive would be. You would not put a Alpha on a 42 Fountain.
My 46 BT has 820 hp x 3 and they hold up very well.

[Donskihp]

Pretty much made up my mind between Imco or Teague Platinum

[Boatally Insane]

Found some interesting reading on the subject.....

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/d...ue-drives.html


Doug

[Donskihp]

Wow! thanks for that link, I had already pretty much made up my mind to go Teague. But that pretty much closes the door on which to go with. I'm really supprised, because I was thinking that the imco was the stronger one. With Teagues I'll be able to through any thing at them, for I,m only 714hp and hitting about 85mph. Don

[CRC]

An Arneson on a small V? This one comes to mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jKhIXJ0fME

My Bravo X lasted 7 hours after my repower to the 525 and my boat is much smaller. The XR w/Imco shorty has held up so far. You are running on borrowed time! Keep your towing insurance paid up.

[LAKE EFFECT]

With Procharged 509's I have self educated myself on the Bravo drive. Everybody makes them out to be so difficult to work on, and Teague and the others use special components. They are a very simple drive. The reason why some hold up and some dont is totally in the setup.

Teague uses the Merc case, gears, and clutch on their uppers. There are some aftermarket cases around, but not gears and clutches.

The Bravo X should have the thicker floored gear(helical),were as the XR uses straight cut gears(the X helicals are almost as strong), same clutch as the XR, same clutch shaft(#2 on the top), and same clutch shaft bearings. Im not sure if the X uses the metal caged gear floor bearing that the XR uses, or if there using the plastic cages from the reg Bravo.

Anyway, I've been researching and upgrading my Bravo's(early IMCO SC's at first,now Merc XR's)for 5 years, with some good success. Here is a list of some things to do that will help keep a Bravo alive behind some HP.

Upper: X housing with a steel tower, good top cap(I have Max Macines w/7/16 studs), X gears/XR'swould be better, #2 merc clutch shaft, Teagues and Max Machines are stronger, hard shimmed pinion, full roller lower clutch shaft bearing(not the stock caged bearing). This is what you will get with the Teague upper, less then 1/2 $ if you do it yourself. There are a couple of bearing changes that can be made that I know Max Machine does, not sure about Teague.

Lower: good vertical shaft(with a lower nut not bolt), XR prop shaft and carrier, and hard shim the bullit(instead of using the crush ring). Have to use Merc gears(no aftermarket choices). You can buy better aftermaket shafts though. all the stock bearings in the lower are fine.

HP transom assembly with hydraulic steering.

Sorry for the rant. The Bravo is small and prone to failure, but its efficient and fast, and with the right parts and setup you at least get a 60/40 change of making it thru the summer without a rebuild.

LE

[Donskihp]

Interesting, I'll probably change drives this summer, right now i've been trying to dial things in with BBlades