Imco SC drive failure

[Charley]

Well... I have to admit I was truly not expecting this situation to be worked out, especially so quickly, but it has. Fred Inman Sr. and I spoke this morning on the phone about my situation and we have reached an agreement/concession that will both satisfy me personally and also renew my hope with Imco and thier commitment to service after the sale. I would prefer not to divulge all of the details, but one very important factor for me, and all of you, was that according to Fred Sr., Imco will be more receptive when dealing with people when we have parts failures.... basically looking at the individual situation rather than a blanket style assumption. Lets be honest, high performance parts do break... sometimes it's the consumers fault sometimes it's the manufacturers.... I guess with my situation we will never Truly Know exactly what happend, but a smart business owner(Fred Sr.) and a boat owner (Me) were able to reach a fair compromise that renews my personal hope in them as a company and thier products. I hope and believe this means a higher level of service from Imco to all of us... Thank you to all of you for the support here and PM responses too, thanks to all of you my family and I can put this situation behind us and get back to boating ;):D :D

[BoatFloating]

Charley, thanks for the update. I heard from Carlos on Saturday about the problem. What a bunch of crap and was looking at the Imco drives as a possibilty, not anymore. I've even hearing that 4X4 has had some issues. $25K for a drive that breaks lowers, shit buy a #6 for $5K more and call it done. I hate companies that don't stand behind their stuff even under warranty and make excuses claiming operator error, yeah, ok!

[gmocnik]

charley, sorry to hear about the issues.
there is just no reason the go cheap on the u-joints.
my personal experience has been to let gt performance (gary teague) do the "xr" upgrade to my merc b1. that included steel tower, gear sets, shafts, etc...that setup has lasted 100 hours behind my 750hp motor. had it torn apart to inspect last month(to prevent the big boom) and there was no/little gear wear. they claim as long as i don't hammer it out of the hole, there should be no drama....
heard good things about max machine worx upgrades also....
see you soon
gary

[Dennis26]

gmocnik,
How much did GT charge you for the upgrade? Thanks.

[gmocnik]

dennis26
i'll dig for receipts, but as i recall the drive upgrades were in the 4-5k range..
give gary or phil a call..
i have had very good experiences with gt building my motors and drives and they have supported and stood behind their work even in situations where parts, etc. from other manufacturers have failed (e.g crane roller hyd lifters). they will not be the low price bidder but good stuff isn't cheap.
gm

[hulshot]

Hey charlie sorry to hear about the imco problem. I had a new SC break in about 3 hours of babying it and called imco and sent it in. The drive locked up so fast it broke the u-joint coupler cage and twisted the splines in the moto coupler. They sent me out a new one at no charge. So my experience has been good so far. I am pushing well over 1000hp through it.
What is the upgraded u joint? is it a spicers joint or some other manufacturer?? I want to pull mine and check..

[Charley]

Well... I have to admit I was truly not expecting this situation to be worked out, especially so quickly, but it has. Fred Inman Sr. and I spoke this morning on the phone about my situation and we have reached an agreement/concession that will both satisfy me personally and also renew my hope with Imco and thier commitment to service after the sale. I would prefer not to divulge all of the details, but one very important factor for me, and all of you, was that according to Fred Sr., Imco will be more receptive when dealing with people when we have parts failures.... basically looking at the individual situation rather than a blanket style assumption. Lets be honest, high performance parts do break... sometimes it's the consumers fault sometimes it's the manufacturers.... I guess with my situation we will never Truly Know exactly what happend, but a smart business owner(Fred Sr.) and a boat owner (Me) were able to reach a fair compromise that renews my personal hope in them as a company and thier products. I hope and believe this means a higher level of service from Imco to all of us... Thank you to all of you for the support here and PM responses too, thanks to all of you my family and I can put this situation behind us and get back to boating ;):D :D

[jackpunx]

Originally posted by gmocnik
charley, sorry to hear about the issues.
there is just no reason the go cheap on the u-joints.
my personal experience has been to let gt performance (gary teague) do the "xr" upgrade to my merc b1. that included steel tower, gear sets, shafts, etc...that setup has lasted 100 hours behind my 750hp motor. had it torn apart to inspect last month(to prevent the big boom) and there was no/little gear wear. they claim as long as i don't hammer it out of the hole, there should be no drama....
heard good things about max machine worx upgrades also....
see you soon
gary
My experience with GT was the same as yours.. I did the xr upgrade on an 800+motor.. I have about 45 worry free hrs on it.. BTW.. they did the motor too.. This is not saying that other builders dont do good work.. Its just to say that Im very happy with GT.

[skater40]

Charley-I am glad to see that you got it resolved to your satisfaction.I know that mercury would not have stepped up and helped you out, because it has been over a year since you put the boat in service and you are running more h.p. than they desined it for.My congradulations to IMCO for stepping up.

[hulshot]

Good to hear Charley, hopfully you will be at the heat wave run in april I would liketo take a closer look at the boat. The first sight of your boat last year when Dave was driving was in the air slightly out of control. but it settled back in quickly and slowed down some but kept going.