Big steering pin concern

Rt1069

New Member
Nov 18, 2020
20
Boat Info
2001 SeaRay Sundancer 310
Engines
350 Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI Horizon - V Dive
350 Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI Horizon - V Drive
Hey guys,

new to the forum and the Sea Ray world. I bought my 99 280 Sunsport cuddy last month and I found something today while winterizing that has me concerned. If I look behind the port motor where the steering arm goes to the steering pin, that whole space is just salt. What’s surprising is the paint on the steering arm isn’t chipping and it doesn’t look too bad in there from what I could see. It’s just a lot of dried salt.

I’m not sure if this is leaking or not but when I had it in the water I didn’t notice any water coming in. The drive has very minimal play in it so I am wondering if I can get away with the JR marine kit or do I have to do the whole assembly. I’ve pulled the motor on my old Rinker before but I don’t really have the means of pulling the motor out, last time we used an excavator which will not be happening with this one!

I tried to get the best photo/video I could
 

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The corrosion is caused by the fact the grease fitting is missing, the shaft rusted/corroded and destroyed the seal.
While its apart install a grease fitting to prevent this damage. The process can also be done before things get that bad without drive removal
click to enlarge
 
The corrosion is caused by the fact the grease fitting is missing, the shaft rusted/corroded and destroyed the seal.
While its apart install a grease fitting to prevent this damage. The process can also be done before things get that bad without drive removal
click to enlarge

thanks for the pic. Do you think I’ll be able to do the steering pin repair without replacing the transom assembly judging by the amount of corrosion?
 
I was able to clean it up a bit and get some better photos.
 

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Kind of looks like you have more than just a bad seal going on. Any pics from farther back and is your boat moored during the season?
 
I dont think it's anything worse than just the seal. Water is constantly seeping upwards and evaporates and just leaves tons of salt. Also highly corrosive. My guess is the aluminum housing will just flake apart if you pick at it.

Can you get the pattern for the JR patch and open the housing to see what it looks like before you buy their kit?
 
After I cleaned it up a bit I don’t think it’s too bad either, it just looked bad because of the dried salt. There really isn’t too much pitting going on from corrosion. I ordered just the kit to cut out the housing and try and get everything apart. If everything comes apart and looks good I’ll order the replacement parts and seal it up.
 
After I cleaned it up a bit I don’t think it’s too bad either, it just looked bad because of the dried salt. There really isn’t too much pitting going on from corrosion. I ordered just the kit to cut out the housing and try and get everything apart. If everything comes apart and looks good I’ll order the replacement parts and seal it up.
My comment was in respect to all the corrosion on the outside of your drive that appears to be present in the second pic you posted. Maybe the zoomed in pic makes it look worse than it is.
 
I went though this last season on my 94. Ended up replacing transom assembly. Less to worry about in the future as it came with everything. Just replacing the seal doesn't insure that it won't leak again soon if corroded. Also replaced my Y pipe while we were in there. Found a crack in it which could've sunk my boat if not found. $6500 to have some one else do it.
 
I just replaced my transom assembly myself for the same reason. $2,800 for the assembly. What it looked like and what it now/should look like:

IMG_20200818_163629.jpg

IMG_20200923_115231.jpg
 

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