Bravo one gimbal housing bushing
 

While my motor is out I am in the process of replacing the pins and bushings in my gimbal ring and housing. I have everything out except for the very top bushing in the housing behind the Mercruiser sticker. It seems impossible to remove this w/o some certain mercruiser tool. Any suggestions?????????????

Do a search on tiller arm, or tiller arm seal in Q&A. I've read posts with the process described.

Good luck, sounds like you are in deeeeep. :eek:

BT :cool:

There is a dimple on the right side top of the drive. the dimple is a locater for drilling a large hole for a socket to reach the tiller nut. This is described @ mercruiserparts.com I believe. If not do a search with Google.com to find it. You may also look at boatsUS for their maintenance section of "tips" . the hole must be plugged after replacement.

My question is: How did MERC EVER GET IT ON THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!! :) A clymers Bravo manual is also good.

Have fun!! I am going to fix mine also on the Sonic (I hope!).

If I read the original question correctly, you are interested in how to get the upper bushing out. Heres how I did it. I stuck a solid shaft in the upper bushing the same size as the hole and clamped it so I couldnt move and then I used my grease gun and pumped it to death and the grease pressure pushed the bushing out. Leave a little room on the top of the shaft so the shaft doesnt block off the grease hole. Im sure there is a tool to do this too, but the grease trick worked for me.

Hmmmm.good idea. Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Regards Bravo Gimble R&R

Call Ron Bender at J&R Marine in Cleveland ,,,, 216-390-1330 He has a complete rebuild process for the trans plate and Gimble Housings and Rings,,, neat stuff and 1/2 the price ... All C&C stainless chit ,,,, works good, I just did my Apache,
RC

CHEITMAN WE HAVE FIGURED THIS ONE OUT! I MADE A KIT WE CALL SWIVEL SHAFT COVER PLATE.ALSO WE MAKE A SWIVEL SHAFT THAT IS MADE OF 17-4 STAINLESS. CORROSION RESISTANT EQUAL TO 304 STAINLESS.OUR WEB SIGHT IS NOT FINISHED YET. SO IF YOU WANT I CAN MAIL SOMETHING TO YOU IF YOU WANT. GIVE ME A CALL 216-390-1330 RON BENDER

Formula 31's grease gun idea won't work on my drive, it does'nt have the zerk on top. This upper bushing is a real *****! After I spend a couple hours picking up all the tools I threw across the shop I will try my last resort of ideas. Has anyone tried to tap threads in the bushing, install a stud and use a nut to pull the son of a ***** out. How about splitting it in two with a small chisel and prying the 2 pieces out. I tried to grind and bend a punch to pry the entire piece out but there is not enough of a lip to grab on. I really don't want to cut the housing up.

I haven't tried this on your particular bushing, but the way you get a blind hole bushing out is as follows. Pack the ID solid with grease or soap. Using a shaft or pin that fits very snugly into the bushing, start the pin into the bushing. Once started, use a hammer and drive the pin to the bottom of the bushing. The grease will get behind the bushing and using hydraulic force, push the bushing out slick as ****.

Hope this helps,

BT :cool:

Thanks BT, thats the way to do it if it doenst have a zerk. When and why did Merc stop putting a grease zerk there?

The bushings are self lubricating. They normally don't wear very much. If you do have to remove it the grease idea is a good one, but as the cross section of the bushing is pretty small it might be hard to develop enough pressure to get it to move. The actual tool that is used is called a blind hole puller. It goes in from the bottom, and is then expanded behind the bushing. We got ours from an OTC distributor.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it this afternoon after I find all of my tools again!!!!!!!

Make sure the pin you use is a tight clearance fit, not a press fit. If that doesn't work, try seeing if autozone has a pilot bearing puller they will rent for free (autozone.com). If all that fails there is always the last resort of doing it the right way like Mbam says :p

BT :cool:

now what fun would that be? LOL

Check this site out. It even includes templates for locating the drilling location and pictures to help you out. http://www.mercstuff.com/gimbalring.htm

Also check out this link. http://www.mercstuff.com/gimbalkit.htm. They can clean up your gimble housing. I’m going to have this done this winter, but can’t endorse the shop yet as I have not even started on the repairs.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cheitman
[B]Has anyone tried to tap threads in the bushing, install a stud and use a nut to pull the son of a ***** out.

Ceitman, yes I have used the tap method. Works like champ! I used a 3/8 pipe tap. Threaded the bushing and made a puller from a 3/8 pipe nipple. I have replaced several using this method. Hope this helps.:)

I seen the kit that WILDTHING TAZ has at the Chicago boat show. Really nice. Taking it 1 step further, by placing the rear decal on his cover plate, any repair would be virtually unnoticable. Unlike the plastic side plugs.

Maxx, I tapped it and made a puller using a short nipple, coupler, 5/8" fine thread stud and nut. It took less than 5min to pull out and that included tapping the hole! Anyone else having problems........I really suggest using this method. I also talked to Ron Bender about his stainless swivel shaft. I really appreciate everyone's comments.

Good deal! There is always more than one way to skin a cat.:p

I just talked to Ron Bender about the swivel shaft. It is stainless and the price is $132.00 + shipping. He is not setup yet (will be later this week) to do credit cards yet. Not to bad a price for something you will never have to replace again. Nice guy too.:cool: I enjoyed the conversation.... he is also going to offereing bushing kits, but they are not ready yet. Sounds like resonable mark-ups too.:cool:

Thats a good price for those shafts. I bet I spent everybit of 4 hrs making my new ones from scratch. I wonder what stainless he is using?

17-4 Is the material he used. I seen their booth at the boat show. I think it's the way to go. I definitly would use this kit if I had to replace mine.