Quote:
Originally Posted by Steveo
I just had my boat put in for the season. When the marina launched it they made me sign a waiver due to a worn out gimbal ring that they didn't want to be liable for. It is a Mercury 350 Alpha Drive. There are two issues I need help with:
First: I ask what was the liability with not repairing now other than sloppy steering (which I have become accustom to) until a time where I guess I would eventually just lose all steering. The marina stated that the pin (that is the problem because it is wearing round) could have a "catastrophic" failure whereby it snaps off and the outdrive falls off and the boat sinks. I find this a bit extreme and just wanted the forum's opinion.
Second: They said there are two ways to repair. Either replace the gimbal ring or replace the ring and transom plate at the same time. Both repairs would be around $4,000. That seems pretty high to me.
I don't want to put myself or my family in danger but I was hoping to be able to have time to shop the work around and have it done during a time later in the season when the marinas aren't as busy launching boats; maybe get a better price.
Thanks for any advise.
Steve
|
There's no need to replace the transom assembly and this repair should not cost anywhere near $4000. I did the repair on my Bravo 3 (the process is almost identical on an Alpha drive) myself in a day (plus I replaced the bellows and shift cable at the same time) and documented it all right here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=a95d978078
My gimbal ring was worn for years, but only failed because I backed into a rock at a launch ramp. I ended up using the boat all weekend with a broken gimbal ring and had no idea until I put it back on the trailer and noticed a huge amount of side to side play.
The pin (swivel pin) will not break or wear round. The problem is with a square-shaped hole that is cast into the aluminum gimbal ring and mates with a square portion of the steel swivel pin. The aluminum, being much softer, will wear first. There might be a bit of slop in the swivel pin to steering lever (which are both steel) junction too, but that is generally a non-issue that you could live with forever. The gimbal ring is a fairly massive chunk of aluminum and won't just suddenly snap leaving you with no steering, that's just not how they fail. Here's a picture to show you how rugged they are:
My recommendation is to measure the slop at the back of the drive and if it's less than 4" side to side, just keep using it and make sure the gimbal ring pinch bolts are routinely torqued to 55 ft-lbs. Those are the two bolts that are obvious in the picture.
When you do eventually replace the gimbal ring, I strongly urge you remove the engine to do this work. It will give you a great opportunity to inspect and clean the bilge, install a new or backup bilge pump, install new water shutters, clean up and re-support the plumbing and wiring stuff you can't get to easily with engine in place, and inspect the coupler, starter wiring, ground connections, bilge blower plumbing and oil pan.
I did NOT pull my engine when I did the gimbal swap, but I did pull it last year to replace the flywheel ring gear and in hindsight wish I had done it sooner. It's incredibly easy to do and make the gimbal swap MUCH easier. I will never hesitate to pull the engine if needed anymore. It's a nothing job... Also, if you pull the engine, you can skip the cutting and drilling I did in the first few pics of my facebook album and save money on the transom plate kit.