Pete280

I am having my Gimbal Ring redone, I bought a SS upper gimbal shaft from Chad Hill off Ebay. Looked Great until we went to put it on, it is about 1/2" to tall, when he went to tighten it down, ran out of threads before the ring was tight. Anyone ever experience this? I should have spent the extra $100 and bought it from Ron Bender, he did the ring and it turned out great. Do we have to machine it, or did he give me the wrong shaft?

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't buy anything from Chad Hill again,he sells JUNK. I bought a stainless gimball ring from him that was FAR from ever fitting. I think he has the stuff made in mexico or china. You should post a warning thread after you contact him (he avoided me) if he doesn't give you one that fits,Smitty

Pete280

I remember your problems with him, I went out and took a look, it's actually only about an 1/8" taller than the original, but because of that the threads hit the top of the transom assy. before the ring is tight. It must be machined down, which we could have done, but the square portion is also to tall. I try to get a hold of him on monday.

Big Block Billy

Same thing with me, Gimbal ring and shaft.
They will get these better as production continues. I used 1 of the newer pins and it worked great. The other one is a blem. They should have the grease passages too. The gimbal ring was tight in the shoe area but I am going to spread it with a porta power. Alot of work goes into casting up stainless parts. These guy's deserve an 'ata boy They have prototypes for the transom housing as well as helmets in stainless, and they also are selling aluminum helmets that are beefed up for around half of a stock one, and have the HP swivel pins. Ron Hill Has been making props for years, and Chad has some good ideas, we have to be patient, I too would like to cast my own parts, it is not as easy as it could seem. BBB

Pete280

So he should have no problem swapping it out? what do you consider newer ones? I got this a month ago, This is the HP upper shaft.

handfulz28

Is this the Ron/Chad Hill we're talking about?
http://www.hillmarine.com/

I've been thinking about those stainless pieces myself, swivel shaft in particular, so I'd like to keep up with what you find.
Where can I find Ron Bender?

Donzi502

If i had to do a little machineing to make a stainless part fit, that would in my opinion a much better deal than messing around with a steel or aluminum part. I have bought lits of props from Ron Hill and he has been great to deal with and good props. Some needed a bit of polishing but at the price who cares. I would get his parts anyday and make them fit. Better that than one day loosing the bravo off the back at 80 mph and then sinking. Jas

Big Block Billy

www.jrmarine.com BBB

Big Block Billy

These were on ebay advertised as buy it now for 139.99 or best offer. I put in an offer for $120 and got one but it was 1/8" longer too and had been welded.
As a machinist myself, I noticed that it appears as an earlier piece maybe a trial setup piece from a C.N.C. lathe.
It had welds on it to correct some defects, and the groove at the bottom of the big square was too big setting everything above it off by 1/8" including thread length and overall height as well as the square sections and bearing surface all being higher. I guess I should have bid $139.99 and maybe I would have got one of the better ones !
I have been inside of very many Merc. transom assys. BBB

Pete280

Here is pic of old vs Chad Hill's, mine sounds the same as yours, I paid $139, bit it didint say anything about being a prototype and not fitting. Did you have any problens after you cut it down 1/8" on the lathe, did you take an 1/8" off the bottom square portion?