B-Max

[Rocket2003]

A friend of mine has a 30' sleekcraft with a Blown big block and a "B-max" outdrive. He has less than 12 hours in three years on both, The B-max has been back to the shop twice.........now they don't want to back it up!
Where is there a good shop (maybe in Texas?, to have this thing worked on to get it right?
[ September 07, 2003, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: Rocket2003 ]

[dorC]

Performance Marine is Oshkosh, Wisconsin has been working on them. 920-236-4220

[Robbie Racer]

Rocket, do you know if the problem is in the upper or lower unit? Almost any good Mercruiser mechanic can repair the lower but I sent back the upper to the Bravo Shop for repair. So far no other problems.

[Rocket2003]

No, we just took it home and parked it. I guess he will have to have somebody open it up and see what the scoop is!
It was making a grinding noise when we shifted it into gear..... On the trailer if you spun the prop in neutral, it would get tight, then loosen up, then get tight again.

[BADBLOWN572]

Robbie, how many b-max's have you gone through at this point? I have had to re-build mine 3 times so far with no reason why any of them have blown. They said that the shaft does not look like it was flown and they can not figure out why it keeps blowing. Just curious to see how many you have gone through because I know that you have quite a bit more h.p. than me. Don't know if mine were freak things or if there is some reason with the boat that causes me to keep breaking them.

[Robbie Racer]

Rocket: When my B-max had those symptoms, it was the lower drive gears that were trashed. I took it to a regular Mercruiser mechanic and he found the problem. We ordered a new lower set of gears from the Bravo Shop and he installed them without any problems. They lasted another year of hard running before they failed again. (See below)
BB572: Let's see if I can remember the problems in order of their occurance:
1) Broke prop shaft on hard acceleration at about 70 mph. My Mercruiser mechanic replaced it with a newer heavier duty one from the Bravo Shop and so far I have not broken any other prop shafts in the last year or so despite a lot of very hard runs.
2) Munched lower drive gears (see above note to Rocket).
3) Broke a vertical shaft at the Spring Heat wave when boat went airborne over a big wave.
4) Broke another vertical shaft over this past July 4th weekend at Shasta just getting the boat on plane. That is the only failure that I can't understand why it happened.
5) My idle was set pretty high (1100 RPM) and I was having trouble getting it in neutral from forward or reverse. Finally it got worse and got stuck in forward. Sent it back to the Bravo Shop and they had to replace the upper gear set (which were munched up) and a shift cam thing. I also found that my lower gears were also munched so my local Mercruiser mechanic replaced them also.
So far, since that complete rebuild (just a month or so ago), I have another 15 hours on it without any further incedents. I have also lowered the idle to about 700 RPM so it goes in and out of gear much easier now. I currently have a spare prop shaft, a complete spare lower drive and have ordered a spare vertical shaft so that when I do break something, I can get it going fairly quickly now.
What shaft keeps failing on your drive? Prop or Vertical?

[BLOWN_ADVANTAGE]

I HAVE A 27 ADVANTAGE WITH A B-MAX DRIVE THAT HAS BROKEN TWICE I HAD IT REBUILT BY THE BRAVO SHOP THE FIRST TIME AND IT LASTED A WEEK THEN i DID IT MYSELF THE SECOND TIME AND IT IS STILL TOGETHER THEY SET THE CLEARANCE TO FAR OUT THE FIRST TIME AND IT TOOK OUT THE GEARS I WOULD STICK TO THE IMCO OR A TEAGUE PLATNIUM DRIVE OVER THE B-MAX THEY DONT TAKE POWER FROM YOU

[BADBLOWN572]

The first time the vertical shaft snapped, the second time the prop shaft broke, and the last time the vertical shaft broke and sheared the upper gears. Daryl at Daryl's customs in Havasu did the last re-build and gave me the parts. The gears were almost smooth. There was not one tooth that was even semi in tact. I couldn't believe it I blew the vertical, sheared the gears, tore apart the whole housing. Daryl replaced all of it for CHEAP and had it done within 4 days. Plus it is nice that he is in Havasu vs. sending it all the way to the Bravo Shop. He is also the West Coast rep for B-max. Real nice guy too.

[anthony]

dam,wish i had your guys problem with all that speed and power...

[Dr. Eagle]

Jeeezzze after reading the articles in Powerboat and Poker Runs America, I thought the BMax drives were bulletproof.Has anyone else had these kind of problems with the Teague or IMCO drives?