pullmytrigger

I have an 89 29 Fever........want to remove them to sandblast/paint.......are these things going to be held on with 5200??........just so I know what Im going to be up against........doug

pachangalpina

I just removed mine and was worried about that also. All I wanted to do was replace my 280 plates with 380 plates but the shafts were frozen and would not budge. So I prepared myself for the worst and gathered up my heat gun, torch, small to large pry bars, paino wire, laquer thinner, mineral spirits, wide putty knives and all of the wood shims I could find. Got in the bilge and removed all of the fastners within minutes and when around to the back of the boat and grabbed the first tab and pulled it off. The next tab was a little more difficult because I had to rock it back and forth and use the wood wedges but no major force. I was puzzled until I saw the paint/powder coat was still attached to the transom and the back of the tabs were bare alum. It did take quite some time to remove the adhesive even after I removed the powder coat but my transom was not damaged.

This was only the begining. I tried a 20 ton press to remove the shafts with no luck. It took 2 of us with a large drift and a 10# sledge to remove the first shaft but the second one we had to cut the shaft between each hinge finger. Even after cutting the shaft into sections we broke one of the transom plates. One left that is good and one is trashed.

At this point I need 2 main shafts and 2 cylinder shafts and 1 new transom plate and have already sold my 280 lower plates. I decide to buy 2 new transom plates and machine all new shafts.

Now I decide to remove the thru hull fitting that thread into the plate. They don't move so we get out the torch and are able to sucessfully remove 3 of the 4. The last one started galling in the Al and snapped. Merc only part and it was not worth machining just one.

Hmmm....trim cylinders look a little rough so I plug them and bead blast them and the surface looks like the moon with all of the pitting under the powder coating. They worked fine but everything else was new so It was time for a call to Fred @ Trick for 2 replacement cylinders.

Indicator cable covers crumbled in my hands as I was removing them so I replaced the tab indicater cables. New tab indicator cables means I might as well replace the drive indicator cables. When I went to remove the cables at the helm I had more problems. The bracket that held the cables was AL and the stainless screws holding the cables were frozen in place. Ripped it out and machined new bracket and installed new stainless screws with anti-seize compound.

I could have bought new billet tabs for the amount I spent refurbishing these but.....I still enjoyed the project.

Good luck and if you need any parts, I may have some spares that might help.

Todd

ReggieRaft

I gess I was lucky compared to you guy's. My pins came right out but when we put the drives on they hit the 380's when drives are turned. Called fountain to get templets to trim tabs to fit. 01 35 lightning . Waiting to see what they look like.

pullmytrigger

Todd - Phew!!!......thats nasty......thats what Im afraid I'll run into...... what year is your boat???.............doug

pachangalpina

Mine is an '89. And I forgot about that trimming part. That is another story.

pachangalpina

Hopefully yours wont be as bad. I think mine had seen some saltwater use with less than perfect maint. When I got the boat, it had recent engines and drives installed but they did not replace the transom assemblies. That is this winters project. Mine are in bad enough shape that I dont think I will be able to refinish them economically considering that there could be additional problems with them.

waterbum

I had to do the same thing about 2 years ago to a 1986 10 Meter. 4 of the 6 pins were frozen. Tried hammering, twisting, heating and got all but 1 pin out. The last one has the long pin running through the transom plate and the tab. I finally hit it so hard one, part of the transom plate broke. After I finally got the pin out, I thought I would have to buy a new transom plate. I took the plate and the busted part to a welder who was comfortable with cast aluminum and he fixed it up good as new. A little grinding and sanding and you can't see the fix. Then had them powder coated and reinstalled using 3M 4200. I had a hard time finding the c clips that go at the ends of the rod. Most of them snapped when being removed. Finally got them from Riggs place up in Wisconsin.

Good luck,
Doug

pachangalpina

I was going to weld my broken one but after I blasted it and broke off the thru-hull fitting I realized that I was looking at a lot of additional work. I still had to remove a 2" section of shaft that was in one of the middle hinge fingers, remove the remainder of the fitting, weld the broken end finger back on and weld the crack in one of the other fingers. Then after powder coating I would still have a shiny part full of pits and craters.

The e-clips were probablly the easiest part of the deal for me. I looked up the stainless clips on McMaster-Carr's website and placed my order by 10am so I could have them delivered that afternoon.