just retorqued the gimbal ring clamp on my bravo one and it just kept sucking up and never really felt like it would reach the 50 pounds of torque that my manual says to torque it at. It felt as if the bolts were stretching. before i torqued it i checked for looseness between the shaft and ring and all looked and felt good, no steering issues over the summer. I did torque it to 45 pounds and called it quits, i used two different torque wrenches just to make sure one was not accurate. has anyone encountered this? am i doing something wrong? Any input would be greatly appreciated

The u bolt will stretch some I put a new one in from jr marine ran a few times was going to back the nuts off and re torque and broke the u bolt backing off the nut You just dont wont to over torque as the stainless will gall on you

I've had this discussion on here before with boat mechanics that do this for a living. They all say 25-30ft lbs max on retorquing a old ubolt. I personally have always been able to get the 50lbs but I know the mechanics have seen more than I and they know whats what. I'd say you need to change the ubolt because you have stretched it beyond its allowance. It has unknown strength now if it has stretched.

Is there enough room to remove and replace the u bolt without pulling the drive and or gimbal ring?

I never tried it but I don't think so. I've only replaced them with transom assem off the boat and gimbal ring removed.