Techno drive gearboxes any good?

[contessaman]

Not the best time for me to realise it, but as I install my new engine I note that I could be fitting a techno drive tmp 60a gearbox instead of the prm 120 I bought. The former has a 7 degree down angle drive which would have my engine mounted at about 3 degrees down instead of the circa 10 degrees achieved with the prm 120.

Does anybody have any experience with techno drive and are they any good? I'm of the opinion that if I'm fitting an engine I might as well do it as best as I can. I'm sure I can sell the unused prm 120. Its just I know and trust the prm name but haven't really got any experience of the italian made tmc 60a.

Grateful for any experiences good or bad...

 

[vas]

a recent discussion on my Technodrive box rebuilt. Not a good or bad experience per se, but worth a read I think:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...70-TM880A-TwinDisk-engaging-failure-low-hours

cheers

V.

 

[superheat6k]

The Technodrive is likely a re-badged Twin Disc. With the exception of poor Vas' recent situation, which was likely due to poor prior re-assembly, Twin Disc has an excellent reputation.

Might be worth removing the drain plug and examining the oil strainer. If there is any metallic debris then perhaps question using it. Dark / black particles are wear debris from the clutch packs, so a small qty is fine.

If it is on a Volvo engine check the oil cooler is not leaking and has decent anodes. VP want a ridiculous sum for replacement coolers, however it is straightforward to convert to a Bowman unit.

 

[doug748]

I don't have sufficient experience to give a view though I have a Technodrive and it seems fine.
Beta fit a lot of them, they used to favour another well know gearbox (not prm) but the man said they stopped because they were troubled by a lot of warranty claims. This would imply that the Technodrive was better in this respect, for what it's worth.

 

[contessaman]

Thanks gents. I'll be buying a brand new one so hopefully wont have any issues for a good few years...

 

[PetiteFleur]

I have a technodrive on my Beta 25 and no problems to date - 9 yrs old with 650hrs.

 

[contessaman]

I have a technodrive on my Beta 25 and no problems to date - 9 yrs old with 650hrs.

Sounds good!

 

[PhillM]

I have a three year old 40 on my Beta 14. No problems so far. Quite happy.

 

[Jcorstorphine]

Fitted a Technodrive TM18 box to a BMC 1.5 back in 1980, Still going ok as saw the boat last year in local SH boat show. The gearbox was actually under-rated for the engine but never gave any problems. Box was very quiet unlike the crappy Hurth box I fitted to my Ford 1.6 which rattled since new.

 

[Rowana]

I have a technodrive on my Beta 25 and no problems to date - 9 yrs old with 650hrs.

I also have a Beta/Technodrive which was new in 2000. No problems at all.

 

[contessaman]

Thanks again for all the feedback gents - encouraging stuff. I see twindisc / techno drive give 3 sets of data for the box I've ordered. Lesuire, intermittent and industrial/continous. My bhp per 100 rpm puts me comfortably within the intermittent use so that should hopefully be fine for use as a yacht auxiliary, especially given some of the comments above.

Ive been taking lots of photos of the whole marinisation / engine replacement process so hopefully I can pass on any knowledge gleaned to others via this excellent forum in the future.

Thanks again.