Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

Has anyone come up with an idea to repair Bravo gimbal rings in the area where the pivot shaft is clamped? Also why did Mercury remove the grease fitting from the upper pivot shaft and bushings? The early Bravos had the greasable shaft and bushing which would greatly increase the life of the gimbal housing. I am presently rebuilding 2 units off the transom. And I have successfully repaired all the pivot points and the gimbal rings. This saved me about $2500 in new parts........gofast

I cleaned up the square area on mine and made a new shaft for the bigger size. Some people are welding them up and re-machining the square. According to Bam, mercruiser decided the bushings were self-lubricating. Whatever.

Here you go!
Repair

I think Ron also makes a stainless swivel pin assembly also. $132.00 less than the Merc deal. Search on "swivel pin" & you will find the thread.

Mercury really built a money making machine with the way a drive system can wear out, all the pivot points and such. But the Bravo is still the best thing going ..........gofast

I think Mercury could have done a lot better job of making everyone (mechanic, dealer, customer) aware of the importance of checked and re-checking the torque on the u-bolt regularily. This would stop most of the problems with the connection between the gimbal ring and the steering shaft.

formula31
Although a lot of failures are due to loose U bolts, I've also seen them go bad when checked regularly. And the U bolts are probably getting loose from the wear inside the square cutout. Repeated tightening just slows the problem.I think it's just a bad design. They should go back to the spline design, but that would probably add $1.95 to production costs.
Gary

Mercury makes 80% of total profits on part. Why would they cut profits and making their drives last?

Good point, but ethical engineers design part failure based on use and wear, not something coming loose because of crappy design.

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

There is no profit in parts that don't break. The swivel pin bushings are a bad idea too. What happened to the idea of just greasing them.
There should be a class action suit against Merc for all the people that have had transom assy's go bad from this preconcieved problem . It probably would not happen because too many people are making money off this problem. Another misfortune of parts proven on freshwater lakes and sold to salt water boaters. I like thier reply of 'self lubricating'. A bearing shell made of mild steel that can't be greased with a steel shaft , SELF RUSTING !!!

The swivel shaft has a grease passage in it. The bravo case, at least the ones I have,
have a small indentation where the passage gets drilled and is supposed to be. I would recommend drilling this passage and installing a $2 stainless grease fitting and grease ocassionally. The bushings , seal and even the shaft and steering arm are Alpha gen1 . Buy a used Alpha for parts and sell the left over parts and probably make money on the deal. I did some homework cross referencing part #'s. I found out the upper bushing is generic and could be had for $1.50 or even less at a bearing supplier. It's # is 10DU08
I'm working on getting the other parts at a discount. I'll never make money on these if I pay top dollar for parts. Merc. doesn't want me to !!! They want to sell new new new for $ $ $ $ >>> !!!!! BBB

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

WELL I'V DONE WHAT I COULD IN REBUILDING THEM FOR A GOOD PRICE. WE ARE MAKING A FIXTURE TO REDO THE BOTTOM OF THE RING WHERE THE DRIVE ALIGNS INTO IT. I'V SEEN TO MANY OF THEM WEAR ON ONE SIDE. WHICH WILL CAUSE TO MUCH SIDE PLAY. NEXT WEEK I SHOULD HAVE THIS DONE AND WILL LET YOU KNOW IF IT WORKS. IF YOU NEED YOURS FIXED CHECK OUT MY WEB SITE AT WWW.JRMARINE.COM. RON BENDER

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

I Have Also Put Grease Fittings In My Bravo 1 Housing Like The Trs Had. It's Worked Great. It's A Little Work But With My Stainless Shafts And Grease It Will Last Much Longer. I Will Post A Photo Of My Housing Tomorrow Morning. Rb

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

What we need is a seal that has a stainless shell so that it doesn't rot out. I don't like paying Merc. $15 for a seal that has to be changed before it rots. It's amazing how they go through the trouble of having the seal manufacturer put the merc part # on it , and not the generic seal #, but aren't able to have them make the shell out of stainless !!! I found this one out today :mad: It's almost funny how the original NoK brand seal had a part # , but was too deteriorated to read. , I went and bought one from a merc dealer, hoping to acertain the NOK #. So that I could go and stock up at the bearing shop. What about where the bellows attaches ? It seems that they made it extra weak on purpose so that it could rot or break easily. I have one that somebody pried off the boot and snapped a chunk off. It should be at least !/4" thick not less than 1/8th !!! How about the steel studs that hold it on the boat. They should be stainless too. I'm gonna make them up out of S.S. I think Merc. likes to make throw away stuff. I remember taking out a loan, buying a Bravo and buying a Brand new transom assy in the box and installing it on my boat about 5 years ago. I guess it's time to take it apart, check it out, and try to save it before it's a total P.O.S. I'm not the only one who spent hard earned money on these things. I think they are well designed, but WE know what could be much better about them. :cool:

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

How about using a 7/16" U-bolt? Maybe a modification could be done. This would create alot better clamp down force. A 7/16" fastener would allow at least 20lbs more torque on it's fasteners. Maybe it would break the weak gimbal ring though. There has to be more answers to correct these units. BBB

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

It Wouldn't Break The Ring Because Your Locking Up Solid On The Square Of The Swivel Shaft. But To Change The Radius Casted In The Ring From The 3/8 To 7/16 Dia U-bolt Would Be Close To Impossible.

Re: Worn Bravo gimbal rings
 

I like that close to impossible thing. There is a glimmer of hope that it is possible. Maybe I could carefully grind the groove with a die grinder and a ball shaped bit. I could practice on a broken ring. I could go crazy scribing lines over dychem(red's my favorite !) I noticed that McMaster-Carr carries ss 316 and 304 alloy u-bolts in all different dimensions. Only coarse thread though. They are apx $7 ea. Sounds better than $30 for a "mercruiser" one. A longer one could be cut and re threaded with fine threads, or I guess a load of them could be easily custom made. Why does it have to be a u- bolt? Couldn't it have a plate on each side with (2) 7/16 Bolts ? Also what has to be done to modify the bell (helmet) so that it can accept the h.p. pins ? Is it just a drill and ream job ? If I'm going through the trouble to rebuild units to sell them I may as well beef em up, and make them more desireable. (profitable) :cool: I'm going to take another one apart tomorrow and see if I can come up with some more ideas. This one doesn't have any slop in the steering shaft. Hopefully I can get the #'s off the seal and lower bushing. So far I've spent several days trying to gear up and find the parts to do these assemblies right ! Maybe one of these days instead of most of my money going out the money will start coming in !