chevalcabre

Hi fellows ,I need some help.
I have a 2005 warlock with a 496 and mercury bravo 1 drive.
The boat is on the trailer . I was cleaning the drive and noticed the drive moves freely about 4 inches side to side without the steering moving at all !

I had someone continue swinging the drive side to side and looked in the engine bay. All pins are nice and tight , with such little amount on play. The arm that connects moves so little as well compared to the travel the drive does .

I am maybe having the feeling the arm is not tightened where it meets the pivot point ? Does that make sense ? Can I tighten the arm from inside the engine bay ? Or what do I need to do to tighten this drive and stop his side to side play ?

Mr Gadgets

It is possible the gimbal ring is cracked. I saw that once a boat that would not steer correctly and it had a lot of play side to side. Look at the parts breakdown on the Bam site and look with a flashlight at the top of the gimbal ring where the steering pin is mounted. The two bolts on the outside of the gimbal squeeze that area to tighten the pin in the gimbal ring. A crack there would allow the movement you are speaking of. If so, the gimbal would need to be replaced.
Hope that helps.
Dick

beaver 3

The gimbal rings also will wear at the steering pin if they are not tightened atleast once a year. Retorqueing them is a maintanance procedure. You may be able to get by with tightening it back up, but hat sounds excessive. Its either broke or worn to the point replacement is necessary.