Small leak gimbal housing

Mike sandor

Mike sandor

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
175
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Boat Info
2007 320 Sundancer
Twin 496. Bravo 3
2018 3500 Chevy, Loadmaster trailer
Raymarine Axiom, Quantum 2
Engines
496 Mercruiser/Bravo III drives
D88EE295-690B-4BEA-B1C0-0442E7AD657E.jpeg
I am getting ready to winterize and while doing a general inspection of the bilge area, I notice a few drips of water just above the fresh water intake, directly to the top left of the pipe plug. Engine is not running.
Any idea what might be causing this? Replaced bellows last year, prior to splash this year, I pulled the lower units and greases the spline. All looked good. I was thinking many the shifting bellows is leaking but isn’t it lower than the fresh water intake?
 
Ya that crossed my mind as well. Is there I definitive way to verify that before tearing into it?
 
Clean the area and put a few people in the boat to completely submerge the housing. Then watch it while someone turn the wheel left and right.

This is difficult due to the cramped area back there but it’s all I can think of right now.
 
If I understand the arrangement of the top swivel pin,
there is a seal located at the bottom of the pin. This seal prevents water from migrating up past the pin and bearing fit, to the top where the steering arm is attached. The diagram in the manual is not very clear.
Carbon steel pivot pin in a marine environment would not be my first choice.
 
Look for where the steering arm goes through the transom assembly to the steering pin. You'll see in on the end of the hydraulic ram. Stick a finger in there and feel around to see if it's wet (don't turn the steering wheel when you do this). If wet that's likely your leak.

To confirm you could wipe out / dry the area with a cloth. Wait a while and come back to check for water. If so, you've confirmed it.

I had this right before I traded in my last boat. The only issue was a small leak from the steering pin. The transom assembly was fine, steering was tight, no slop, etc. My mechanic suggested to leave it alone until things got worse, or minimally take care of it over winter. His recommended solution was to pull the engine to repair / replace the pin and seal vs. use the external approach. This was because the fix is mostly labor and he could pull and replace an engine faster than using a kit. If you decide to make a repair, insist on using an aftermarket stainless steel pin. If Mercruiser had done this from the start corrosion from the steel pin would not have chewed up the seal and caused the leak.

For my situation I would have tried an interim fix before pulling the engine. I would have tried to inject grease into the steering arm / pin space from the inside to see if that stopped the leak. As far as I could tell from the diagrams, it would have had the same result as adding a grease zerk to the outside of the outdrive.
 
Great feedback guys. I will confirm there is no slop, if that is the case, I will go with the grease.
If there is slop, I am leaning towards to JR Marine option.
Thanks again...…..
 
Is it possible for water leaking in from the steering swivel pin to enter the bellows/driveshaft/unjointed area?

My steering pins are seeping a little. I have an engine pull scheduled for this January to do some motor work. I was planning on fixing the steering seals then.

Can this tiny bit of water cause my Ujoints to rust in the meantime?
 
DWABoat said:
Is it possible for water leaking in from the steering swivel pin to enter the bellows/driveshaft/unjointed area?

My steering pins are seeping a little. I have an engine pull scheduled for this January to do some motor work. I was planning on fixing the steering seals then.

Can this tiny bit of water cause my Ujoints to rust in the meantime?
Click to expand...
Unlikely. They are separate areas of the drive.
 
Ok. I didn’t think it would flow in there, if there was even enough seepage to make a flow of water. Just wanted a second opinion. Thanks.
 
scoflaw said:
I've had luck by drilling and tapping and adding a grease fitting. the grease stopped the flow.

JR Marine has a good video on the repair.
Click to expand...
Any chance you have a pic of that? Have mine all stripped apart and painted. Installing the JR pin kit. Would like to add a lube point but curious where the best location would be?
 
IMO, this is biggest problem with Mercruiser. I had to do this to my last boat. Pulled the engine, spent days trying to pull the pins out with huge threaded rods as pullers. After getting everything apart it was clear the transom assy was corroded to death and had to be replaced. Not cheap ~3k. I used the stainless pin. Strange to buy a new transom assy, only to pull it all apart to put a stainless pin in.

Now I bought a new boat with the exact same problem - would have thought I would have learned my lesson. I'm pulling both engines this winter. I get approx. gallon of water in the bilge per day. And I want to do it before the entire transom assy and Y pipe is corroded and junk again. First one I didn't do the grease fitting, but I'm considering adding it this time around.

I bought small borroscope camera and found the drip at bottom of transom assy - you would never know it came from the steering pin. But then I took a rag and stuffed it under the steering pin to soak up the water. It stopped for about 5 min, and once saturated, it started dripping on the video again.

How much water do you get in the bilge per day/week?
 
Thornton69 said:
Any chance you have a pic of that? Have mine all stripped apart and painted. Installing the JR pin kit. Would like to add a lube point but curious where the best location would be?
Click to expand...
1/2" from the top of the gimbal ring to the center of the hole
 
scoflaw said:
1/2" from the top of the gimbal ring to the center of the hole
Click to expand...
That makes sense. Was hoping there was something that could be done to make it serviceable from inside the transom. Could not find enough clearance for that though around the steering lever. Really not an issue I guess for a trailered boat other than cosmetics. Thanks!
 
scoflaw said:
I've had luck by drilling and tapping and adding a grease fitting. the grease stopped the flow.

JR Marine has a good video on the repair.
Click to expand...
Hi. im about to install the two fittings. I have corrosion near the steering arm (powder) but no water leak.
Do you have a link to the video? cant find ot
 
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