Im replacing the ring and shaft on my B3 with a JR marine shaft and refurb ring . I have been told that I gotta use his U-bolt because they wont stretch. The stock one is currently stretched . So if his wont stretch then will more then likely break if I have an impact. . Seems like a stretched bolt would be better then a broken one. Any feedback on what u-bolt you guys used when doing this job??

thanks

Use the JR marine one. Give Ron a call and just talk to him. I rebuilt both my bravo 1 assemblies on my formula 311 sr1. No issues.

Ron indicates back when I did this that in his early development of the built, he had a problem where they would break, which I think is what you may be referencing, but he had since removed that issue.

JR marine ring, swivel and u bolt and you will be golden.

I don't believe it. Its stainless steel U bolt, so unless JR is having U bolts made at a foundry special, there is no difference, just a gimmick (like snake oil).

Low grade 303 SS is 75,000 psi tensile strength
Best grade 304 SS is 85,000 psi tensile strength

Aluminum is much less then that. The issue is time and folks not doing maintenance of retorquing to 50 lb ft yearly

https://www.americanfastener.com/mec...ous-fasteners/

I'd agree with you on this normally, but I just had this discussion with my tooroom manager. He sent some stainless cavities out to be hardened. WTF? And they came back hardened. Those metallurgist can be tricky...

regardless if his u bolt is better or not...I’d replace it anyways. Since you are going with his kit and pin which are a lot better than merc’s junk...why not just get the bolt too?

ron is a stand up dude. Dealt with him many times. Id support him over supporting merc. Just my 0.02.

Yes, Ron's is a better bolt than stock or what is sold as stock replacement. For the nayser Ron may be the only one selling a bolt of better material. Ron's full kit is a home run deal.
Be mindful though that as some point Merc started using a 7/16 u-bolt instead of the 3/8. In which case I believe the stretching issue became a mute point.

What makes his ubolt so much better then the one Merc sells especially if the Merc one is thicker and wont stretch?

Uh, ya,,,, I think I made spelled that out pretty clear. But just to clarify if you have an original or replacement Merc (or otherwise) 3/8 u bolt Ron's bolt is better. If you have a unit with the 7/16 from Merc there's probably no good reason to replace it with one that's only 3/8.

You stated that JR marines bolt is made from better material then stock , I just want to know other then what Ron and you say how great the bolt is ...has anyone tested his bolt claims?? I mean he charges $55 for a ubolt, the Merc bolt is around $30.. Why would I spend the extra $$ other then hes a good guy????

I had great luck ordering from JR Marine and Ron was great. I did however have an issue with one of the 3/8" stainless u-bolts. Installed just fine using torque wrench, but needed to remove for some reason. Nut backed off abt 1/2 of a turn then siezed big time. Would not turn in either direction. Had to use a large breaker bar to snap the u-bolt. Re-installed the orig and called it good. The SS u-bolt one on the other drive worked fine.

Something about using SS nuts on SS bolts causes problems in some situations. We see this problem at work too where we have large SS bolts screwing into large stainless structures.