Free play
 

Have a bravo 1 & when you move the outdrive side to side with your hands it goes about 2 inches each way. Looking at the steering wheel while doing this it doesn;'t move. So since I just pulled the engine I wanted to get this straightened out. Something has to be worn out, but I have no idea what it could be. Boat has standard cable style steering.

Check the tiller arm in the top of the drive, you can see it from the engine compartment. They wear out quickly. There is a repair for it, but most prefer to go to external rams. There is a lot of stress on that small point.

It sounds like the gimbel bearing. Pretty expensive fix. Also if not fixed it can be dangerous if it lets go...

theres a repair kit out. you have todrill a couple holes though. be a good time todo the bellows too. not too expensive if you do it yourself.

snopro,
Sorry to disagree, but no way the gimbal bearing can cause that.

The play is most likely in the gimbal ring. As was said, most likley the tiller arm. Possibly the hinge pins, the ring or helmet.

Dont use the repair kit. You really dont want to be drilling huge holes in the gimbal.

A gimbal bearing has nothing to do with the steering - 90% of the time it's caused by the Gimbal ring itself being worn - and no, tightening the two nuts accesible from the outside will not fix the problem. It will most likely have to be replaced. If the engine is out you'll be able to fix this without using the access kit as mentioned. The only reason for the access kit is to NOT pull the engine when needing to access the steering arm. Generally the steering shaft itself doesn't wear - but the seal area needs to be inspected for grooves. I agree with going to external rams - even the half system works better than the factory one.

If you have the money i would fit a new a new transom assembly especially since you have the engine out.I have mucked around far too many times repairing old worn out gimbles.Chances are if the steering arm is worn the other pivot points in the assembly are too.Merc used to make the transom assembly with grease nipples in all the right places.Keep the grease up to them and basically they lasted forever.Now they use silly fibre type bushes that are made to wear quick.
The steering arm is a shaft with a squared section.Around this squared section is clamped with a through bolt the steering arm.Both pieces are cast.When you look at it you think i can just tighten the bolt.Repairs never seem to last very long.Get a whole new one you'll be glad you did.

Thanks for the replies, now I have to uncover it again & look into what you guys were saying.

Here is a link for you. http://www.jrmarine.com/products/gimbal_repair.htm
They have great products for this type of repair and with their stronger u-bolt for the upper pin it does not weaken and wear as easily.

Fast. W. I had the same problem. THe nut and the pin in the steering arm is the problem. Fix it, for the short term.
Go with full hydro. after the repair. Tighten the 2 bolts form the outside (65 Ft. Pound, I think) but the square pivot "nut" and the pin MUST BE REPAIRED. Search my old thread on this .. more good info. The design is a problem and Merc. is aware of it. (no help tho.) Once there is a little play, it will get worse.

Sorry for the wrong info but I knew it was something with the gimbal,guess I wasn't thinking enough!! I had the same problem and had it fixed and added external steering at the same time..

The first, and obvious, place to look is the steering cable itself. Over time they just chit out, check the helm unit as well. The key here is your statement that when moving the drive that much the wheel is not moving with it. There is no way that much movement is not going to be all in the drive assembly. Second place to go would be the upper pin where the gimble ring attaches to the transom assembly, they can wear or loosen over time, Merc has a repair kit for this, have seen the kit installed many times with no adverse effects on a normal boat. The way to check for wear here is to lift on the tail of the drive and watch/feel for movement in the pin. If you are not sure of your abilities to diagnose this take it to a good marine repair facility, if something fails in the steering, even at modest speeds, you can get into trouble. Full hydraulic steering is the ultimate system, if you do not want to spend that kind of money simply replace the entire system,cable and helm, that you have now, it is not that expensive to do, you should then be good for many years to come.

Where can this kit be ordered from and what type of money are we talking about to have someone fix it. Seems to be a job that is a bit out of my do it yourself range

www.jrmarine.com its about 50 bucks but you will also need a new gimble about 900.00 new.Sometimes you can find them on ebay for about 400. You can also send the gimble ring to jr marine and they will weld it and machine back to new. 250.00

I talked to a mechanic today and I am bringing the boat to him this week end. He said I need to put hydraulic steering on it also. I know it will help and I intended to install one. It was on my list of things I wanted to do. I really do not have the money to do it at this point. If I fix the problem at hand it should be ok til the offseason when i have more money to upgrade the steering to hydraulic. He says if I don't I will have same problem and have to repeat the repair. It took 7 years for it to get to this point will two months really hurt? Also he said he does not do the cutting into housing fix he will pull the motor to get to it.

i have a similar problem on an '06 boat with like 50 hrs on it.... the cables could'nt have stretched and just need adjustment?.... my boat only runs high sixty's should i also be considering hydraulic steering?

External?
 

Where could I see an example of external steering? I have an 89 25 ft Rogue, with aa Bravo 1. Gimbal appears to be ok, and am pretty sure my steering arm is shot. I MIGHT be able to get at it from the inside, as I have quite a bit of room to work with, but if not, planned on going with the external repair kit...Thanks for your help...Den

Does anyone have an idea of how much play would be considered acceptable? I have about 5/8 of an inch measured from the prop area(as far away from the gimble as possible). Thanks

Around here that's good.... I've seen 'em swing 3-4 inches.... and they still drive them.....