I have kiekafer trim indicators on my boat and there is water leaking through the transom where one of the cables runs through the transom. There is a mteal housing that screws to the transom and then another metal cylinder "insert" that is inside the housing. The cable runs through the center of the insert. It appears as though the insert has flats on it for a wrench. My assumption is that this insert threads into the housing that is screwed to the transom and squashes an o-ring on the cable to seal the entire deal.

Does anyone actually know how this thing works. I would like to disassemble and reseal without damaging anything.

Just use marine silicone around the cable inside the housing.
IT WORKS !

The same thing is happening to mine. I was going to change the cables but i did not know where to get them from? Any one know?

Its a mercury part if it threads on tab plate. They are called cable grip assy. They come in plastic or stainless. They thread into the plate, it has a bushing and a ring gripper #s 845970 , 845971 that squeeze around cable to hold and seal. This assumes the plate is sealed to transom. The rubber bushing and nylon gripper should be changed when installing new cables.

If its leaking into the boat its getting the transom wet. Sealing it on the inside won't save your transom.

I had similar problems.. and MobileM is right. You have to seal it from the outside. The beat way is to have silicone spread on the cables from the outside and then pull it inside the transom. Ths will have the sillicone fill the gaps from the outside and you should be fine.

Thanks for the input. I ordered a new rubber bushing and gripper ring. Anything I need to be careful of when unthreading or re-threading the grip plug to access the bushing and gripper?

NeverSatisfied... I just had the same problem. I took that apart several times and just couldn't see how water was getting by the rubber bushing... it wasn't! It was leaking in where the mounting plate fits to the hull, then finding it's way over to the cable hole. I cleaned the perimeter of the mounting plate then ran a bead of 5200 and smoothed it with my finger. Just throwing that out there, you may have the same problem.

Be sure to take a measurement of the cable sticking thru the transom before u unsrew it. It can and will move and can cause the cable to get in a bind. some people split the rubber bushing in half to keep from taking it the cable loose, not a good idea... very simple job!!!! also if you have one leaking change all threwhull fittings when one leaks the others will follow