Maxum was Brunswick's value cruiser and runabout line, a cousin to Bayliner and Sea Ray, and almost every one rides behind a MerCruiser drive, an Alpha One on the smaller boats and a Bravo on the bigger cruisers. That is Brad's home turf, since MerCruiser is what he works on most. He repairs and rebuilds the drive under a Maxum: seals, bearings, gimbal, bellows, cooling and shifting, and full rebuilds when the wear runs deep. Ship it in from anywhere or drop it off near Oneida Lake.
Maxum sterndrive problems
- Milky gear oil from a MerCruiser seal leak
- Transom growl from a dry or wet gimbal bearing
- Overheating on an Alpha from a worn in-drive water pump
- Hard shifting or a drive that jumps out of gear
- Cracked, aged bellows on a boat that has sat
- Whine or clunk from gear wear on a high-hour cruiser drive
What Brad checks on a Maxum drive
- Confirm the drive, Alpha One Gen I or II, or a Bravo on a cruiser
- Pressure and vacuum test to find the leak
- Check the in-drive water pump on Alpha drives
- Inspect the gimbal bearing, u-joints and bellows
- Verify shift cable adjustment and the interrupt switch
- Read the gear oil and weigh repair against the boat's value
The fix and what to expect
Brad repairs the specific MerCruiser fault under the Maxum, or rebuilds the drive when the oil and noise call for it, and pressure tests it before it goes back. On a value cruiser he is honest about when a targeted repair beats a full rebuild, so you do not spend more than the boat is worth. A single repair turns around fast, a rebuild in one to two weeks from arrival, price known before the work starts.
Bigger Maxums carry a Bravo, and that changes the job
A small Maxum bowrider usually runs an Alpha One with its water pump in the drive, but the mid-cabin Maxum cruisers often carry a MerCruiser Bravo, where the pump lives on the engine and bearing preload has to be set by measurement. That difference decides how a cooling or noise complaint gets diagnosed, so Brad confirms which drive is on the transom before quoting a Maxum. Getting the Bravo preload and gear pattern right is what keeps a heavier Maxum quiet at cruise instead of howling the first warm day out.