Having read many of your posts on outdrives, I sincerely respect your expertise and suggestions. That said, what is your view on the stainless steel gimbal ring from Max Worx.

I have not seen it or worked on one, so I can't say one way or the other. Sorry..

Heres the story on the gimbal ring, about 3 or 4 years ago hill marine decided to build stainless gimbal rings,I bought one to put on my boat. It was so far from fitting that I just couldn't use it. Was machined all fukked up,holes were wrong size,location etc. I got rid of it because it was nearly impossible to make it work due to the flaws. Max machine worx decided it was a good idea but just needed to be refined somewhat. Talking to aaron at Max worx he told me they take it and fix its flaws and make it actually fit right,I haven't actually bought another one from them but they will stand behind it so I wouldn't be scared to buy it from them. They get double what Hill does for it but if it actually works its a great piece,Smitty
the original piece from hills had the trim sender screw holes in wrong place,was wrong overall height and the pads were loose were it supports the actual drive,bushings were crappy and pins would not fit it.

Hi! Did Hill make a later version? I bought one off e-bay and the guy complained about the bushings being the wrong size also. I put the caliper to them and they were a couple thousandths tighter then stock Mercury ones. The pins went in fine. Senders bolted right up. Just had to chase the threads from being filled with crap from the polishing. Thanks Charlie

Thanks Smitty for the latest info on your outdrive gimbal ring upgrade. I take it from your post that Aaron took your Hill ring and machined it correctly. Now that's service. Instead of just saying " Hey, you purchased junk, now buy the good stuff from me". I talked at Aaron this week and he is polishing up two for me. I much rather pay the higher amount and get the correct unit. Too important of a component to be not using the best part. Heck, if I wanted something less, I would have left my Merc gimbal rings on the boat. Idea: Start a new thread on your experience and expertise in cryo treatment to the upper gear set.

I actually never did anything with the hill ring that I had bought other then re-sell it to someone with more time than I have to straigthen it out, The Max Worx boys started doing the improved gimbals them selves after probably running into the same problem as me. There were varying degrees of problems with the hill rings,mine had multiple problems,worst of which was inside of drive support pads was real un-even and quite a bit wider than oustide of the drive itself lending zero support under a load,Smitty

Smitty, you back from vacation?? I have those bearings for you..

Dick

I'm home,I'll call you in next few days,Smitty