Z06vette1

On my h2x with bravo 1 I've noticed that I have about 4 inches of play one way when I move it the other it is pretty tight I have also noticed that there is some scuffing on the starbd side gimble area when I was inspecting things with the drive up.

RiReuter

Play in the steering wheel?

Z06vette1

In the drive I can move it by hand to the left about 4-6 inches and it is tight when I try to move it to the right There is also some bare aluminum showing where it has scuffed on the right side. I believe there is supposed to be wear pads there but I don't see any

puzzleboy

Check to see if the swivel pin is stationary when you move the gimbal ring the 4" or so. If so, it means the square bore in your gimbal ring is worn. Often this is due to the U-bolt (gimbal ring pinch area) not being kept tight.

I just went through this. Welded her up, remachined/filed the bore square, feels like new now.

Could be other steering issues also.

Z06vette1

There appears to be a lot of slop in the top pin it looks like the gimble ring is hogged out some. Is it safe to run it like this? How much would it cost to repair this? Any ideas I'd like to get the rest of the season out of it since the motor was just rebuilt and I'd hate to have it pulled again!

Rwbrew3

Have you tried tightening the two bolts above the gimble ring, trim the motor down and you will see two 9/16 ( I think ) tighten both down and see if that helps, not sure what the torque specs are ... Just a thought...

Rick

n20michael

Sadly, to do it right you WILL have to pull the motor to change the gimbal ring, IF its the swivel pin, and it sounds like it might be? Are you getting any water leaking in? That usually means the swivel pin has tore up the seal. If your transom sits below the water line it will usually leak sitting at the dock, but, wont leak underway, its usually just a small "trickle" that will run down from what appears to be the top of the transom plate on the inside.

You can have JR marine weld up your existing ring and re use it. I was fortunate to find a new one on Ebay when mine was toast, or I would have him [or someone else] weld up the hole and re broach it.

I also ordered one of his swivel pins, they are made of stainless steel and last pretty much forever, as I remember it was about the same money as a stock Merc one.

I would be REAL careful running with that slop in the steering, If the ring lets go completely you will lose your steering. I suppose as long as your "carefull" and the slop isn't TOO bad you would be ok as long as you drove accordingly, but, be careful dude!

puzzleboy

DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE EXCESSIVE CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE PIN AND SQUARE BORE. I cracked my gimbal ring doing this and I was using a torque wrench. (earlier post of mine).

Anyway, I got the cracks welded and material added to the gimbal ring's square bore, any competent aluminum welder can do it. I then filed the bore back until the swivel pin would JUST fit. I used the JR Marine method (cut open the transom plate) to access the swivel pin's hardware, which allows you to remove the gimbal ring without engine removal, and fabricated a stainless cover plate to finish it off and seal it. Going boating today, but will post pics of everything later.

Probably have 30 hard hours on it since, with no issues, and everything is tight.

Ebay Ed

i just bought one of JR's swivel pins they are about $175.00 but was told they look nicer than the Merc ones

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

I used JR's swivel pin also and his kit (block off plate) and wrenchs that allow you to repair this without removing the engine. Yes, you do have to cut a hole in the transom housing. No, it is not hard and it has never leaked. Much better (IMO) than removing a good engine and better than the Mercury method. In addition this was also a very nice fellow to do business with. Good luck.

Dan