Swivel pin replacement...
 

Thought I might start a thread on replacing the swivel pin on a Bravo 1. I have a 1993 Baja 290-OS with HP-500's. For the past 3 years I have had a very tiny leak with water coming in. When I say tiny, I mean the bilge put will kick on about every 1-1/2 hours. The leak only happens when people are on the back mashing the boat alittle lower in the water. When it is sitting normally in the water, there is no leak. Last December, I pulled the motors and everything else on the back leaving me with a complete bare transom. I did alittle repair work on the starboard side of the transom, then resealed the gimbles and all the holes as I put the stuff back on. Floated the boat for 3 hours and no water came in. I thought I had found and fixed it. After I put the motors back in, I floated it for another 3 hours and still no water. I thought I had hit a home run, but when we went out and everyone was on the back swim platform...I was in the water and after a while, the pump kicked on. Pissed off it not the politically correct term for me at the time. I was ready for a fire, but friends talked me out of it. Since then, I have talked to some other people about it and they all mentioned the same thing...that since I replaced and resealed everything else, the only thing left was the swivel (steering) pin. They told me that the standard Mercruiser pin was carbon steel and that it must be rusty and messed up the seal allowing water to get thru it. I have ordered the parts that I need to replace and repair this thing, but I am not going to pull the motors out and the gimbles off the back again. I am not going to do this the way Mercruiser says either when replacing the pins with everything still in and on the transom. I bought a "fix-it" kit from Ron at JR Maine in Ohio... WWW.JRMARINE.COM . I have stainless pins now along with all the bushing and new seals. I am going to start on this project right after the first and will post pics of the progress. Ron also has 2 videos that go into great detail of exactly what to do. I had an old gimble that was trash and I cut the hole out on it for practice before I start on mine. You dont want to screw up on this as there are no do-overs, so if you do screw up, you get to replace the gimble...bummer. My practice that I did yesterday came out perfect for the cut and I was able to get the lower and upper bushing out fairly easy after heating an old worthless flay screw driver up and bending the end over 90*, then grinding the end down to sort-of a point. I was able to get it wedged in there so that the point could get a bite on the bushing and then pry it out...worked pretty good. After I got the upper bushing out I also took a drill and drilled from the inside up thru the top of the gimble so that I can install a grease zert. I remember on my old 1989 Baja with a Bravo 1, I had a grease zert at the top to grease the upper bushing. I never had a leak in that boat. For whatever reason, Mercruiser does not put a zert there anymore, so there is no way to grease the bushing or the pin which helps promote the rust. I will post pics as I go along on this project as I think some of you with older boats might be doing the same thing someday. So far, the project looks harder than I think it really is, but I am saying this based on my practice cuts yesterday. Any questions...just ask and I will try to answer them for you. I will also be taking lots of pics and video of this project, and I will be happy to send you pics or links for the video.

These are pics of my test hole on a worthless Bravo 1. This will give you an idea of what is involved. You have to be careful drilling the holes as the window is going to be right up next to the inside walls. When the drill goes thru, do not let it go very deep as it will bend at an angle and you will break your drill. The cover plate kit comes with 3 drills that you will need. You will need to drill 66 holes at 3/32 and 4 holes with a #3 drill. The 4 holes with the #3 drill are to be 7/16 deep ONLY and then you will use a 1/4-28 tap to hold the stainless steel plate on the back to cover and seal up the hole. Once you get the hole cut out, you can take a rotary file to smooth it out some if you want. It really doesnt matter as the hole will be covered up, but if you want it pretty and smooth...file it. Also dont have any bumps on the surface where you drilled all the holes. Smooth this out if necessary with a flat file to eliminate any burrs or decal boo-boos. You do not have to remove the decal on the back unless you want to, but if you do, all of it must come off so that you do not have two levels to seal back up later.

These are pics of the new stainless swivel pins, nuts, washers and bushings that all come in the repair kit.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...pair-merc.html


did it to my old boat and worked great

Back in the day we had some wellcrafts we sold that also took on water with weight in the back. The joint between the deck and hull was not sealed properly under the rub rail around the swim platform.

And a few builders in the past 6 years had that same problems with the hull to deck joint using Plexus. I have worked on some of them, Also a lot of joints back hull side leaking water in at certain slow speeds showering the boat wake under the rub rail. Very hard leaks to find at first as some of the builders it only happened at a certain getting on plane speeds with the water spray hitting under the rub rail & seem..

This is the J&R Marine repair. The Mercruiser wants you to drill two 1-3/16 diameter holes...one on each side. I had several people tell me that the Mercruiser way was a serious pain in the butt and that you cant see what you are doing.

I used the jr marine parts for mine. Except I pulled the gimbles, already had motors out. Consider installing grease fittings for the swivel pin. It will help parts last a little longer but I guess I can't complain I had over 1000 hrs on mine.

My first thoughts on my leak was the seal between the top and the bottom at the swim platform. I pulled the rub rail off and I could see a sealant that had been used either when they built the boat or added later. I got a couple of tubes of 5200 and added it where the joint to the top and bottom met applying a pretty good bead of the stuff, then I put the rub rail back on and parked the boat so that the sun would do the rest to cure it out. Waited 3 days and tried again and still had the tiny leak.

I will know for certain when I get the old swivel pin out along with the seal and have a look. I am expecting it to be pretty crusty.

Went through this on mine and ended up having to replace the whole thing. It never leaked bad, kind of like you were describing, but had eroded the aluminum pretty bad. I have 2 JR cover plates and screws if anyone needs them.

yep..thats how I did it,,,,look at the 2nd page of my thread...

If the gimbals are off; no need for drilling holes or cutting for plate. I will say; I did a SeaRay just back in Nov. I was going to drill the 2 holes in which I did. One thing you need to check if you do the repair on the boat, make sure the transom was cut out completely at the top or your done, unless JRs will allow you to remove the nut on the pin from outside the boat. We pulled engine anyways and rebuilt gimbal the engine transom was a mess anyways, some fly-by-night did a crappy job.

The nice thing about the J&R Marine repair kit is that you can see in there and get your fingers in there, but it also gives you some room just in case you have to pry alittle. I dont think Ron will mind having this up as it is listed on YOU TUBE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-R-cMkWYok (GIMBLE RING DISASSEMBLE)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwMa7mRlKQ (GIMBLE RING REASSEMBLE)

Ron is a nice enough guy that he would probably come out and help someone if they needed it. Just cant say enough "good" about him as he has helped me and others at any time.

Don't forget to pull and replace the upper bushing before you install the lower bushing and seal on the swivel pin area. I followed JR's video and the after installing the lower bushing and seal, I wondered what the little bushing he sent me was for! He doesn't replace that in hos video. Even so, I want to thank Ron and JR Marine for their passion to help and do business with integrity. They are awesome.

How much does a kit like this cost?

I want to say that the kit from J&R Marine cost $185.00 for the swivel pin, but I dont know if the bushings and seal come with it. I bought my swivel pin (304 stainless) on E-Bay, and it came with all the bushings and the seal for $135.00. The install kit from J&R is $55.00 and the install tools were $75.00, but after you get your project done, J&R will buy back the install tools for $55.00. I dont know at this time if I will send the tools back or not. Friends with the same issue as I have might need help and if so, I will have the tools that are modified to do the job easier.

This is what you get...

Very cool, beats buying a whole new transom assembly! I'll have to check this out come spring on my boat.

excellent read and very informative. thanks for sharing!

If your swivel pin looks like this, it's where your water is coming in. There is only one way to get rust on the top, its past the seal. I have used JR Marine several times in the past 10 years.
You can buy the 1 1/4 inch wrench on the internet. Its called a plumbers wrench. The two others can be made using a grinder.

Good luck, your thread is much better than the one I did 5 or 6 years ago:D

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Can you post a link from Ebay from the swivel pin, bushings and seal. I could not find it. It might help others....

Thank you 1BigJim. I hope to get started on this project soon, but the weather here has been alittle on the cold side and I just lose interest when I am freezing my butt off. I am planning to make videos while doing this and hopefully it will help others out. The gimble in the pic was one that was trash and given to me to practice on. The actual cut out is very close to the inside vertical and horizontal walls. This is how you can break off a drill. I did learn that after making your punch marks, it is a good idea to drill into the housing at a slight angle. I suspect that my pins are going to look something like yours. Either way, I will have new, stainless pins installed soon.

If there is an interest, I will look up where I got my pins and post it. The pins came with everything that you see in the pic above.

I dont see the add for the place I got my stuff at, but I did find this one...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercruiser-G...55ad6a&vxp=mtr

After alot of banging and getting into a nasty attitude, I finally got the starboard swivel pin out. The drive and the gimbal came off without a hitch, but some gorilla tightened the nut up on the swivel arm and I broke two wrenches getting it loose. After all that, I had to do some adjustments with a small hammer and the Mercruiser swivel pin came out. As you can see, this thing is where my tiny leak was coming from. You can also see the seal...or what is suppose to be the seal. It's shot to Hell too. it took me a while to get the old bushings out and just a couple of minutes to get the new ones back in. I am done for the night as I forgot to go get some bellows glue. The marine places around here are closed on Mondays, so I will get some Tuesday and put the starboard side back together. I just hope that the weather holds out for me.

I broke 10 drill bits on this...dont know what I did wrong because on my practice housing, I didnt break a single drill. All I can figure out is that the window in the pattern must be 3 or 4 hairs too big. On the port side, I am going to center punch the spots about 5 hairs closer towards the center. If I need more room, I will get out the rotary file and open the window up some. This has been fun and a pain in the butt all at the same time.

My adjustable drive stand is a back saver. it worked just a I thought it would, but I think it could use alittle larger wheels so that it can roll easier on rough concrete...maybe change them out to some 4 or 5 inchers.

Just a small tipp if you do happen the break the plastic nipple of the oil pipe fitting , don't drill it out like in the video just go inside the boat there is a quick disconnect tab push it in remove the small c clip and just push the fitting through .

In not much more time than it would take someone to do all that cobbling and hopefully dressing up all the gnarly edge's. And good luck getting all the aluminum chips out of the grease.Then capping it with a plate that lets everyone know what you've done .I'll pull motor, drive and plates and rebuild plates on the stand. Then reassemble to boat with a new transom seal ...I guess for someone with no access to hoist ,it's another way to get around pulling motor. .FWIW I don't go for the plastic pipe plugs of merc either .I don't like the rigged look.I know I shouldn't say this here ,with everyone singing jr praise .But that's my opinion .And i'm entitled to it.

I cut the line like the video said, but wished I hadnt of done it after I did...oh well. The quick clip thingys both broke, so I have to get somemore of them as well as another hose. I guess I did get lucky on one aspect...the plastic hose fittings are not there. My fittings are both brass. I dont know if it came this way from Baja or Mercruiser but no plastic here.

No problem with me Motor. I do agree that the best way to fix this is to pull the motor as you have said, but also as you said...I do not have a hoist or a cooperative tree limb. The last time I had the motors out for a refresh and upgrade, we put one back in with a tree limb and the other with a fork lift. I just didnt feel like going thru all that again. As for all the chips from drilling...there wasnt any grease in the upper bushing area to start with, but I didnt have a chip issue once I hit them with 150 psi air from my compressor. I didnt hose any of the area down...just air pressure. On my old boat back in 1989 with my first Mercruiser unit, Mercruiser had a grease zert in the upper gimbal housing. If you will look, on some Bravo housings, there is a dimple to mark the spot for a zert. This was to lube the upper bushing and also run down to the lower bushing and seal. I never had a swivel pin problem with that boat and I kept is for 20 years running it in both fresh and sale water. Mercruiser did away with the zert in either 1990 or 1991 eliminating any way except dis-assembly to grease the swivel shaft. I think they eliminated the zert to bring in money for dealers at the repair shop. I almost put the zert back back in as my housings both have the dimples showing where the zert goes, but didnt. Truth is, I forgot and reinstalled the starboard side, then remembered, but I didnt want to pull everything apart again. This whole issue for everyone that developes a swivel pin issue could almost be eliminated if Mercruiser would use a stainless steel pin instead of the carbon steel and just for an extra...put the grease zert back in. The Mercruiser swivel pin is nothing more than carbon steel and I was told the price was something like $365.00 plus the bushings and the seal...something I consider to be a total bend you over without a reach around...ie...a complete rip off by Mercruiser.

This is setting the template up in place, center punching and then starting io drill the holes for the window.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udu-JQJ0xbw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Njd2A111c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od1BuNfc_Zo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMaVEQncvAs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuBoxVo3aLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuHL0OpcAYE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEYok-lWeiM

This is some pics of both swivel pins again and you can see their condition. I am guessing that these are the originals from Mercruiser. My boat is a 1993 Baja 290-OS. I wasnt having any steering issues so I never thought about looking at the pins and really didnt know that much about them before...but I do now. These are the cause of my tiny water leak.

The silver thing that looks sorta like a swivel pin is actually a Mercruiser tool to install the upper bushing, the larger bushing just below it and the seal all at the same time. This think is well worth the money. The big white thing is the tool to put the aluminum sela on the drive shaft bellows so that you dont bend it all out of shape. I have see these on E-bay between $25.00 and $40.00 in different colors.

This is the end of my adventure. If you are going to do this to your ride and you have questions...just ask and I will try to help you out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKtv7i1oD5k

Where did you get the adjustable drive stand from? I have a non adjustable and I'm getting tired of muscling the drive up to the level I need to install it.

I built the drive stand that you see here...$225.00 plus shipping.

I ran across this looking at your utube links. Funniest boat launch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aoSRH9Ddhs

I'll be doing this project in the coming weeks on my 1990 29 Fountain twin. My engs are already out so I won't be doing any cutting/drilling.
On the upper swivel shaft there's 2 bushing correct? The JR video shows the removal of the lower one where he drives it up from the bottom then has to collapse it so it can be removed since the cut-out in the transom was a little small and the steering arm wouldn't move up any more.. How is the upper bushing removed? That part wasn't covered in the video.
Also, in your youtube slideshow, there's a large while doughnut looking thing. What was that?

How did your gimble rings look where the square part of the swivel pin engages them? Mine have slop and that's why I'm diving in.. Didn't notice a problem until I hit abt 77 mph for the first time. The slop caused a serious control issue above that speed (no ext steering on mine yet).

Thx for any input!

top bearing
 

I ended up following the video and then noticed I had a new bearing that I had not installed. So I didn't install it. I did end up buying a new stainless pin because the steel one was worn and didn't make sense to me to have a steel one? I hear u need to pull it with a puller.

I dont know the correct name for the Mercruiser tool to install the bushings with. It will install both bushings and the seal all at the same time. I borrowed the tool from a friend and installing the bushings and seal was a piece of cake. I did each bushing separately on the other drive and it was a pain in the butt. I actually screwed up the upper bushing and had to go get another one. Thats when my friend gave me his tool and told me to put the bushings on it and the seal.

I did the cutout and had plenty of room with no issues. The only thing I did different than what Ron Bender said was in install studs for the cover plate instead of the screws. I just dont like threading the aluminum and then installing a bolt into it...too easy to strip out the threads. I had no issues with the studs and got everything nice and tight.

As bad as my pins were, as soon as I was able to spread the jaws of the tiller arm alittle...my pins just fell out. I did not need a puller at all.

I went and had a look at the donut thing you mentioned and that must be the gimbal bearing in the housing. The other white stuff is white silicone around where the hoses go thru the transum. I cleaned excess grease off the gimbal bearings so that might make it look white. If this isnt it, get a "timer" mark where you see it and I will have another look.

The puller mentioned was for the upper bearing. You need to get something up through it and grab the edges to pull it down and out. Don't know for sure since I did not replace mine.