Anyone have any experience with the lower costs SS shaft and rebuild kits on the market? Mother Merc is very proud of their stuff and there are tons of other suppliers out there. Looking for input on what works and what to stay away from. Mine are still pretty tight but, showing signs of rust (steel) above the bell housing. Engines will be out in a few weeks and want to do everything while there is room to work. Stopped by one of the local dealers yesterday and they said if the engines are out, they pull the complete transom assembly out and rebuild them on an engine stand, with a homemade adapter that hold the assembly on the stand. would have them do it, but they only use Merc parts.

I have used a couple of the JR marine units in my own 31 ft boat. The pins they make are stainless and as heavy or heavier than the merc plain steel units. I have also made repairs to a buddies boat that had a cheaper stainless pin installed. I ended up reusing it in a complete rebuild gimbal ring just to help save the guy some money, but I can tell you that stainless one was much lighter in weight compared to the jr marine unit. It was also slightly smaller in demoniaons than the jr marine unit. While it did work, I would do it with my boat, that is using the cheaper Amazon stainless pins. The jr marine units are my recommendation as they are appear as heavy as the merc and they r stainless.

hope that helps,
chris

Save yourself a lot of aggravation and go straight to the JR Marine kit. I tried the cheap way. Even with new bushing and pin it was just as loose as the worn out one that needed replaced. Got the JR Marine piece and it's nice and tight now. It's been in for 3yrs and no play at all.

x2

use jr marine kit with SS pin. Don’t waste your time with the Mercury plain steel pin. It will corrode and leak again…

No need for the kit with the engines out, just replace the pin from inside and maybe bushing
Do check the 50 Ft Lb torque on the U bolt

Thanks everyone for your input. All Dodge, the u-bolt torque note is good info. Went by one of the shops I have used in the past and he said the same thing. I replied back, I thought you were not supposed to that, it might crack the ring. He says, every time your boat has been in here for service, we check that, have not seen your boat in a couple years. Only will break the ring if it is already stressed and already starting to break. Of course, they only use Merc parts to protect their dealership. So that being said. Next up, pull engines, see how much room there is to work, and if not, pull TA's and get er done.

JR Marine for sure. Give them a call and tell them you're pulling the engines, they'll hook you up with everything you need. I ordered pretty much every bushing/seal back there. Tightened-up the drives so there's no slop at all. Good time to do the bellows, u-joints and steering pin.

Only issue I had was the "upgraded" U-bolt. Had to take mine back off after torquing it. Threads seized. Had to break the U-bolt and re-use orig one.

Don't bother with the cheep ones. Bought what I thought was a mid grade kit. Pin was small on the critical dimensions, and the bushings were made to size by a Chinese kid with a die grinder. Ended up reordering all of it from JR.