Drive moves side to side when you push it. Need help

Does the boat have external steering rams? If so, it could be that there is air in the hydraulic steering and it needs to be bled.

The other possibility is that your gimbal ring is worn out. When you move the drive, can you see where it is attached to the transom assembly? Does it look like there is an area of movement that has slop in it? If so, your gimbal ring is worn and needs to be replaced.

If the slop is in the attachment beteen the tiller arm and the gimbal ring, use your money to buy a full hydraulic external steering instead of a new gimbal ring. The tiller arm attachment is a lousy design.

you have a bad gimbal ring for sure and i am sure the seal for the tiller arm is leaking water into the boat too. i believe someone makes a sleeve to repair the ring but if the intermediate housing is rotted out in the seal area you will probably have to replace the housing.

Dont just add hyd steering. That is not a proper fix. You must first fix the slop & then you can go hyd.. Jamie / Lakeside


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Had to replace both gimbal rings this spring; not cheap but important. I was also told to just add Hyd. external steering, but decided to fix it right. I would bite the bullet, fix the gimbals and everything else,(shift cables, bellows, etc.) & then consider the upgrade to ext. hydr. steering later. It is safer and your boat will be worth a little more....just my .02.

is that hyd steering ???
who makes it and did you notice a difference<<

That is not hydraulic steering. That set up has a tie bar and 2 steering stabilizers. I think he was saying that he hasn't done hydraulic yet but has done the gimbals.

Adding hydraulic steering will NOT fix a worn gimbal. You may eliminate the side to side play, but there will most likely still be up and down play. If it is the gimbal, it needs to be repaired properly. If not, you are putting yourself in danger when it fails. If it fails at the top end, you will have a spectacular crash worthy of the evening news!

In the meantime and for every non-hydraulic steering boat owner reading this, you "should" check the torgue on these bolts pictured both at the beginning, and at the end of each season. As the drive gets used a slight wear begins to develop inside the ring and as it grows older the wear becomes more pronounced due to the increased movement. Keep the ring clamped tight around the pin and it will significantly increase the life span of the gimbal.

Although yours is probably worn a great deal by now, re-torgueing these will take a lot of slop out, but it will eventually get loose again. Loosen both first, then re-torgue to 55 ft lbs. each.

Also the link below is a good alternative vice buying brand new. Might even be better......Good luck

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

If the only problem with the gimbal ring is the slop in the tiller arm, I don't see why one should spend the money to change the gimbal ring if full hydraulic is the route forward. Anyway thats what I did and it works perfectly.