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Gimbal Ring to Steering Arm Slop

bill_cunningham

Contributing Member
"I have noticed I have some sl

"I have noticed I have some slop in the steering, due to some wear(?) on the Gimble ring where the square steering shaft enters the top of the gimbal ring.. There is a split, with a bolt/nut on either side that allows tightening of this area, how much tightening will this take before there is a chance the ring will break.. The O-D moves from side to side and I can see the movement on the square to ring area, with about a 1/16"gap showing from side to side.. Is there any thing (snug kit?) available to stuff in there to fill the gap and snug up the bolts.. What are the chances of this breaking with normal use this season, has anyone here had one break? (I haven't seen a broken ring complaint/problem listed here) I don't want to rip it all apart, and replace the ring this season (we only put about 20-30 hours on the boat every summer anyway) This will be a job for the fall, or next spring.. Just looking for a temp fix, the boat goes in the water next Sat."
 
"Bill
I have done up those bo


"Bill
I have done up those bolts "FT" (F&^%&ng Tight and havent broken one yet.

Doesnt mean it wont happen though.

Loctite make a compound specificaly for taking up shaft to bearing clearences where there is wear involved.
You can use it to help reduce the play in the steering shaft to gimble ring but only as a last resort as if you need to pull it apart again, you will need to heat up the assembly to break down the loctite and for the sake of the bearing seals on the steering shaft, it is not the best option.

I cannot think of the grade of loctite (there are so many) but if you want to try it I will find out which one it is for you.

Cheers
Peter C"
 
"Thanks Peter.. I can check in

"Thanks Peter.. I can check into that.. There used to be a compound called 'Devcon' that was available in several grades, including a Aluminum grade that would fill the area, then harden.. If I can't find something similar from loctite, I may make a aluminum shim and loctite it in to take up 'some' of the play. I just want to avoid 'one more' expense 'this' season.. I don't hotdog around in the boat, so there will not be any abnormal strain on it.. If I can get it tightend up a bit, I can replace the ring in the fall or spring.. The Canadian dollar is rising, so the parts are getting cheaper.. The money guys are saying it will be at Par with the USbuck by January.."
 
"NO NO! Not to counter my frie

"NO NO! Not to counter my friend Pete from down under, but Locktight is not going to help this situation. As you know the rig an tiller need to go.

But...... You can close the gap by torquing down on the two 4 inch bolts with captive nuts on the ends, but if you have too much play, they will strip in the nut as the factory mercruiser bolts are grade 3 (i think). That said, pull the existing bolt/nut arrangement and get grade 8 cap screws with captive nuts to replace using good washers. Then hammer em down with the air wrench till the gap closes. It won't break the ring. Use stainless or even steel if you are tearing it down in months. (grade 8 steel are simply easier to find)"
 
"I was mostly worried about to

"I was mostly worried about torquing down the ring gap in the fear that if the ring did not break 'then', it just might when cruising across the lake at 25mph.. THAT would be scary.. How flexible/brittle is the aluminum used in that ring? If I push the outdrive over, the max gap on one side, is about 1/16". This allows the outdrive to swing about 5deg or about 1/2 turn of the helm.."
 
"David
Good call on the bolts


"David
Good call on the bolts, but I have to counter you there on the loctite, I have used Loctite 609 on the upper swivel pins where they are a little loose in the gimble ring and it has worked well.
You would be surprised at the clearence it will take up.

Maybee I am just a little on the rough side now and then.

Bill
From my point of view dont use devcon unless you use a release agent on the swivel pin when you assemble it to the gimble ring or you will have to set a small explosive charge to remove the pin next time you want to remove the ring.

What I should say is "feed the cat another Goldfish" and just buy a new pin and ring, but in reality I am way too much of a scrooge to do that

Good Luck
Cheers
Peter C"
 
"I just got a message back fro

"I just got a message back from my local mobile marine mechanic.. He says that the ring can be warmed up a bit, then the bolts snugged up.. He feels it should be able to tighten up that 1/16 gap without problem.. I left a message for him to drop by and do it for me. I don't have a offset wrench, and I'm gonna feel a lot better having someone do it who's done it before.. I'll let you know what comes of it.. As for getting the pin out after the use of Devcon, I spent 27 years as a commercial diver, and the final ten teaching the safe use of explosives underwater (among other things).. Ha..

Favorite Quote: There is no such thing as a problem that can not be solved by the intellegent placement, and the aggressive use of explosives..
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"
 
"Nice quote. I've done the

"Nice quote. I've done the bolt drill before. The ring is pretty beefy. Warming it with the smoke wrench will help, but it's a pretty tight spot in which to get a torche. You should not need special wrenches to get on the bolts, btw.

Pete - Will take a second look at locktight!!

cheers"
 
"Bill
I love your favorite qu


"Bill
I love your favorite quote, great stuff

David
If you use the Loctite make sure you do not disturb the job after assembly for around 24hrs.

Cheers
Peter C"
 
"The mobile mechanic I usually

"The mobile mechanic I usually use, will drop by and snug it up for me early Sat. Afternoon before I launch the boat.. It's just that I'm rather ham fisted, and if anything can go wrong, it will.. He's got 30 years experiance doing this stuff, so rather than me F/I/U (Murphy stands beside me all day long)
I'll have a little more peace up mind.. Unless of course, he mutters 'oops!' I'll let you know how things went on Monday .. At the very least, I now have lots of info on what to do if all else fails..


Here's the boat, the name was 'earned'
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"Ok!!! All fixed.. For now..

"Ok!!! All fixed.. For now..

It was not going to tighten up quite enough, my mechanic said there was just too much wear.. What we did, was I had some thin brass (.022) and we cut 4 strips about 1/2" wide by 1 Inch long.. Loosened the ring up, moved the drive over, and then slipped a shim horizontally into the gap along the edge of the square pin through the tightning slots on the side.. Did the same thing to the other side, then went back and slipped another one on each side, so it filled a gap of .044 on each side of the drive.. We then snugged it up, and the drive is now tight.. This should hold me for this season, and stop the wandering.. I can replace the ring in the spring.. The Canadian buck is getting stronger, so the parts are also getting cheaper..

If any one else has this problem, this is a fix that can be done even while the boat is in the water...No need to haul it out...

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. I hope this fix will help someone else in the same situation.."
 
"Wow!!!! Launched the boat on

"Wow!!!! Launched the boat on Sunday and drove it the 15 miles or so the the Marina where I will be keeping it this year.. What a difference.. I can now steer the boat!! Never realized how crappy the steering was until we got that ring tight. The boat will now just about turn in it's own length, and docking is a cinch.. Absolutly amazing .. It's like a different boat.. I'll drop over the side a few times during the summer, and see how the shims are holding up, but I'm not expecting a problem.. Then replace the ring for next season..

I love it when a plan comes together
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"
 
"I had the same problem but mo

"I had the same problem but more severe that what you described. I couldn't keep the boat straight at idle or no wake speed. When at speed, turning was becoming an issue.

Since I did not want to go through the Mercruiser fix (drilling into the transom assy and inserting a pin), nor did I want to remove the old and put in a new ring and pin, I used J&B Weld to fill in the gaps that I had. Again, my issue was much more significant and the gap was large. I havn't tested it yet but it will get a good test next week when I take my boat to the Florida Keys.

IMO, the design is horrible due to the mismatching metals and required maintenance. A sleave or insert should be designed by Merc to be inserted where the pin and ring comes in contact to minimize wear and tear. Just my 2 cents worth.

Robert"
 
"Just park it in the sun and l

"Just park it in the sun and let the JB weld stay nice and warm for several days, to make sure it's cured.. I thought about using that, but stacking the brass shims .044 on each side allowed me to get it nice and tight. I have since put a couple of hours on it, mostly going up and down the river about 5 miles each way to and from the marina where I keep the boat.. This river has several sharp turns, some no wake areas, and some unrestricted speed areas. Steering the boat now, is like steering a new boat.. I wasn't sure the JB weld would be cured enough for me to snug it up tight before the boat was due to be launched. But, due to the compression factor on the brass, I can't see this fix loosening off any.. particularly in the 20 or so hours I will put on it this year, and if it does, I'll just drop over the side, and snug it up a bit more.."
 
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