Hinge pin threads stripped
 

I pulled the first gimble ring off my 29 Fountain twin today. Don't think they have ever been off before. Went pretty smooth except for pulling the threads out of the bell housing while removing one of the hinge pins.
I heated it with a torch, but still didn't go well. I see from a search some folks on OSO have had good luck with helicoils.
Anyone know where I can order a helicoil kit and what size/pitch the threads are?

Thx!

Send them to JRMarine. I would not try to do that myself.

Here is a link $125, or $190 for both. Hard to beat that:D

http://www.jrmarine.com/products/bellhousing.htm

5/8 - 18

Just put an hp hinge pin in it. Just have to drill the hole out for the bigger pin and then drill and tap 4 1/4-20 holes.

Thx for the replies guys.

I've had good luck in the past installing helicoils including one in alum that was done abt 12 years ago and is still holding the hydrostatic drive in my John Deere lawn tractor.:D
The JR marine fix sounds like a good back-up plan if the helicoil doesn't work out.

Not sure what to make of the HP hinge pin. Maybe I'm missing something here but there's very little room between the bell housing and the gimble ring. Don't see how that thing would fit in there

Anyone have a online source for a high quality helicoil kit? I used to have a privately owned auto parts store near me that also catered to farmers/ranchers. They had all kinds of neat stuff and some very knowledgeable folks working there, but they got bought out by a big chain and all that came to an abrupt end. :mad:

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I got mine from O'Reillys. Otherwise, McMaster Carr has anything piece of hardware you'll ever need to build anything in stock and you'll have it in two days.

I checked McMaster Carr. They have no kits that include 5/8-18. Same with O-Riellys.
Grainger has a 5/8 -18 kit, but costs almost $300!

Checked around locally at bolt and industrial tool shops. Prices range from $100 to ~$150.
Found a couple of kits on Ebay for ~ $50 that don't include the oddball 41/64's drill bit. That looks like the way to go.

Pm me I should have the tools and parts to install much better quality thread inserts than helicoils
If I have them just pay round trip shipping on the tools And I will give you the inserts.

The JR Marine HP hinge pin upgrade replaces the trim senders. If your boat does not need the trim senders I would do that upgrade. I wanted to do it on my boat but it is a single and I use the trim senders. Does you boat have mechanical drive and tab position indicators or does it use the merc trim senders?

I've installed the hp pins a few times and never even took anything apart...

I just rounded up the tools and inserts for 5/8 x 18 if you would like to borrow the tools, no charge for the inserts.
They are a one piece insert that stakes in place and won't pull out like helicoils which are basically just a stainless steel spring with a thread profile.

So the trim senders will fit on top of the HP pins? If so I want to do the conversion on my new transom assembly.

No you can't run the senders with hp pins

Also the gimble ring on an hp transom assembly is stronger, so just adding the hp pins doesn't make it an hp transom.

I did a Helicoil and has been holding up just fine.

A helicoil most likely will last as long as the boat, I typically work on much larger machines subject to considerably more severe operating conditions and have seen helicoils fail too many times so have gotten completely away from them and gone with the staked in one piece inserts. They are more expensive but have never seen one fail yet. Compared to the labor and down time the price of the inserts is insignificant.

Weird.


http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-th...nserts/=qkiau1

I had pictured in my mind initially that they screwed into the bell housing, but I now understand they attach to the gimble ring. Got any pics of the HP pins installed. I search around but couldn't find any.

I did find this: Ref post# 11

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/d...housing-2.html

Not sure if they are talking abt the same kind of HP pins or not.

The helicoil is looking better and better.

Looks like $3.45 to me for a .938 length

That price is for one insert but no tools

http://www.autotoolworld.com/Helicoi..._p_142364.html

this is the kit you need, it doesn't include the 41/64 drill bit which may be hard to find but you can use a 5/8 bit with aluminum, it is only 1/64 smaller and the tap will easily cut that difference and guaranty full thread engagement. Like the others have said make sure to use red loctite 271 on the insert . Make sure that the loctite sets up (it's anaerobic so only fully sets up where there is no oxygen) before applying anti seize to the threads on the pin.

flyinlow; That's the exact same kit I found on Ebay for a little less and cheaper shipping. Thx for the link anyway.

You're probably right abt using a 5/8" bit with alum. With steel, it probably wouldn't work out so well.
I was planning on using 3 drops of the red loc-tite on the helicoil and 1 drop on the hinge pin, but with stainless on stainless, the anti-sieze may be the way to go. I work on equip that's almost exclusively made of stainless and uses stainless hardware so I know they don't play well together over time.

My boat doesn't use the trim senders and I was thinking abt replacing them with alum plates. I would think they would help keep the pins in place if they did try to back out.
P.S. PM sent..

Cole2534; Thx for the link. I couldn't get it to work until tonight. Their kits have lots of sizes, just not 5/8-18.

Motor; thx for providing the thread size/pitch..

I did the helicoil kit on my '90 29 fountain about 18-19 yrs ago. Sold it to a friend of mine about 15 yrs ago and I think they are still good. I still have the kit and 4 coils in my tool box!

You might see if Smokin Gun has any of these left , they look really well made.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...tors-caps.html