Results from my cryoed Bravo gears

[vinny p.]

Some of you guys may remember this. Last winter I got together with someone from OSO and tried a cryogenic treatment process for lower Bravo XR gears. Last winter when I took apart my drive, the lower gears look pretty bad. They were newly installed the previous winter. I had 77 hours on them. See pictures 1 and 2. ( Note the wear deep into the gears. These gears were giving up metal!) So, I ordered a new set of lowers and had them treated. I had the worn gears treated as well. Kept them on the shelf. I figured I had nothing to lose, the gears were otherwise junk.
To my surprise, the used beat up gears came back to me looking better than new.

I installed the new cryoed gears in my standard length lower that I had been running. This spring, I ran that drive for 10 hours, when I finally found a -2 shorty, that was virtually new. I tore the shorty down, removed the brand new gears and set them aside. I set up the shorty with the used beat up, now treated gears. I set aside the new gears I removed from the shorty for treating later. ( confused yet )

The reality of winter approaching has set in. I brought the boat home the other day. I am tearing it down some every day now. Needless to say, the drive gears was high on my priority list to investigate. Take a look at the pictures 3, 4 and 5 ( next 2 posts) These are the same gears as in the first 2 pictures! Only after cryo and 55 more hours of me beating the crap out of them. SneakyPete can vouch for me on how I run this boat. Pete, How many miles did we run that day, I think 102 or so, right?

Anyway, believe me, the pictures dont do these gears justice. They look great. Although I am not going to, I can definetly send them right back in again.

In closing, I am extremely happy with the results of this process. I am looking forward to next season. The plan is to install a brand new set of treated gears and see how much they wear. I bet I can get 2 seasons out of them. Better than going through a set of gears a season.

 

[vinny p.]

pictures 3 and 4. Very litle wear. There is a pattern but not worn out.

 

[vinny p.]

picture 5 Same here, no wear to speak of. Good pattern, no hot spots.

 

[Old Navy]

I got those done also. I am under 600 hp but I based my results on inspection of the drive oil and magnet-NO metal hairs, chunks, nothing... FYI- I talked to the guy who does them last week, (a personal friend for over 20 years) and there is more new Bravo 1 stuff on the way, stay tuned. If anyone needs contact info on the Cryo gear treatment PM me. The treatment makes the gears not wear out, but does not make them stronger.

 

[ezstriper]

Vinny, sounds like you are onto something here ! Rob

 

[SneakyPete]

That is awesome, and nice to see some pics to back it up. Once I scrape enough $ together, this is the route I am going with my Alpha. I can attest to the way Vinny runs his boat. He is not abusive, far from it, but he leaves nothing on the table when it comes to wringing out every last bit his setup can give, and for the day I was with him, he did it for 102 miles straight, and the thing did not skip a beat. It puts a smile on my face just thinking about it That boat runs like nothing I have seen. Nice to see the drive now has a fighting chance.

 

[Old Navy]

It's not really pricey to get the gears done with this treatment. Merc replacment gears are. Those Chinese alpha clones have it done and the whole drive is like 1300.00. This works.