Broken Gimbal Ring Mystery
#1
Has anybody ever broken a Bravo gimbal ring and not known it... Well I guess I did.. thats the surprise I got this Sunday when I tried to trim my drives up and down in the driveway. Up was fine, but down for the starb. side no good, the broken piece wedged against the big zinc on the upper case. Now judging buy the river growth where the break is ,it looks like it happened sometime last season.. Anybody else ever have this happen. If any ones interested I'll post some pics.
#2
I have a used gimbal ring in decent condition, no wear in the steering pin area. Screws are snapped off where the pivot pins attach. The new HP gimbal rings now have four holes and bigger bolts to hold the pivot pins anyway. If you have someone who can drill/tap new holes, it would be a good fix for you.
#3
I have not unknowingly had a broken one on a bravo, but I did have a cracked ring on a #6 without knowing it. Two years ago we were having the boat serviced at Offshore Performance to get it ready for a poker run in that area when they found a cracked ring. It actually had a crack in two different places. I had made a habit in the past of always checking them after running the bravo boats (while washing), but I never really worried about the #6 gimbal rings before this. I do now! I am lucky that the cracks were spotted when they were. Unfortunately we missed the event waiting for the part and I caught a lot of flack for it, but who cares? There was no way I was going to run the boat with that gimbal ring. Now they both get inspected before and after every run while we are installing or removing the props.
#4
I had screws back out of a pivot pin and caught it before the pivot pin fell all the way out. Found it loose while swimming right after the last card stop at a poker run.
All pivot pin screws now have locktite on them and I carry spare screws.
All pivot pin screws now have locktite on them and I carry spare screws.






