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
