Replacing Steering Pin

S

Seevee

Member
Dec 3, 2015
238
St. Pete, FL
Boat Info
280 Sundancer 2004
Engines
4.3 Merc Twins, Alpha One, Kohler 5kw
Have a 280 Sundance (twin 4.3 Brave 1) and suspect similar models are the same.

There's a steering pin behind the engines that controls the steering and is corroding. Have bee told that both the engines and outdrives must be pulled to fix. Is this true?
 
Yes and no. The OEM Mercruiser repair is to pull the engine and transom assembly in order to access the steering PIN. There is an after market kit by JR Marine that replaces the PIN by cutting an access hole in the transom assembly from the outside. The root cause of this issue is there is no grease fitting to allow greasing of the steering PIN, there are people who have added this with good success. Without proper grease and especially in salt water the PIN rusts/corrodes over time and eventually starts leaking - just creates a big corroded rusty mess. There are also issues - mainly on BravoIII's with the steering PIN rounding out the square fitting in the gimbal housing, this causes leaking and loose steering, root cause here is letting the steering clamps that hold the PIN in the gimbal housing get loose.

It's a PIA repair either way.

There is a member here on CSR that has a lot of experience with this BtDoctor - maybe he will weigh in
 
Done this repair a couple times and not that difficult. Watch the JR video to get an idea what your in for.
Merc used a poor quality pin that rusts. There are deals to be had on the internet for a stainless pin. You don't need JR's special tools either.
 
BillK2632 said:
Yes and no. The OEM Mercruiser repair is to pull the engine and transom assembly in order to access the steering PIN. There is an after market kit by JR Marine that replaces the PIN by cutting an access hole in the transom assembly from the outside. The root cause of this issue is there is no grease fitting to allow greasing of the steering PIN, there are people who have added this with good success. Without proper grease and especially in salt water the PIN rusts/corrodes over time and eventually starts leaking - just creates a big corroded rusty mess. There are also issues - mainly on BravoIII's with the steering PIN rounding out the square fitting in the gimbal housing, this causes leaking and loose steering, root cause here is letting the steering clamps that hold the PIN in the gimbal housing get loose.

It's a PIA repair either way.

There is a member here on CSR that has a lot of experience with this BtDoctor - maybe he will weigh in
Click to expand...

Bill,

THANKS! Great info. Looked at JRs website, a lot of info.
 
scoflaw said:
Done this repair a couple times and not that difficult. Watch the JR video to get an idea what your in for.
Merc used a poor quality pin that rusts. There are deals to be had on the internet for a stainless pin. You don't need JR's special tools either.
Click to expand...

Scoflaw,

Thanks much... by chance would you have a link to that stainless pin? Not sure how I'd search for it. Thx.
 
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