Gimbal ring/gimbal housing rebuild-pics

Quint,
Just a follow up – I did the exact same job using your post as my guide and I also did the JR marine fix. That was last year ,today (its pretty nice day here in NC) I was doing some routine maintenance and was retorquing the gimbal ring nuts and yes after 1 year they needed it! Anyway check out the pic the rubber gasket is cracked all the way around –how does yours look?
 

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Well I thank all who create and sound off on this board, what a wealth of info. I "stole" a 268DA and after pulling the stern drive I know why. Im going to be calling JR Marine for parts.

Thanks guys
 
Put in Bay Yacht club....I love that place.
 
I still see them?
 
Must be your PC cause i still see them as well.

Just went back and re-read the whole thread too and it sure seems like so long ago .... lol.

Quint, how has your repair held up?? Has your rubber gasket cracked around the edges like the poster above?
Just curious in case i have to the same to my new in 09 transom assembly down the road.
 
Holding up great with no noticeable degradation of the gasket.
 
I am at work this morning and it appears ok. I have found about 6 or 7" of play in turning my outdrive without the steering ar moving, so I know I will be doing this soon. Still debatining just the gimbal or the whole transom assy.
 
Just my .02 Absolutely no reason to drill all those holes for your cut out! Use a centerpunch to mark the corners of your hole then just connect the dots using either a dremmel with a cutoff wheel or similar. It took me 10 minutes. Take care when cutting and you can re-use the piece you cut out. I JB welded a couple little pieces of aluminum can to the edges of the plate to use as tabs to position it back in the hole. I put JB along the edge and put the piece back in. Let that dry, came back the next day ground off my tabs and put another coat of JB, let it dry, sanded it off, primed, painted and decal'ed it. Looks like it never happened and like new. Anyone wondering about doing this... its not a big deal. I know its a little intimidating taking a saw to your transom, but don't worry. I personally don't like the look of the plates screwed on there. The only advantage of the plate is if you ever need back in there. I cant find a pic of my finished but heres a couple to give you the idea. Well never mind, it wont let me?? If you want to see, PM me with your email and I'll send you pics.
 
MileHi270SR said:
Just my .02 Absolutely no reason to drill all those holes for your cut out! Use a centerpunch to mark the corners of your hole then just connect the dots using either a dremmel with a cutoff wheel or similar. It took me 10 minutes. Take care when cutting and you can re-use the piece you cut out. I JB welded a couple little pieces of aluminum can to the edges of the plate to use as tabs to position it back in the hole. I put JB along the edge and put the piece back in. Let that dry, came back the next day ground off my tabs and put another coat of JB, let it dry, sanded it off, primed, painted and decal'ed it. Looks like it never happened and like new. Anyone wondering about doing this... its not a big deal. I know its a little intimidating taking a saw to your transom, but don't worry. I personally don't like the look of the plates screwed on there. The only advantage of the plate is if you ever need back in there. I cant find a pic of my finished but heres a couple to give you the idea. Well never mind, it wont let me?? If you want to see, PM me with your email and I'll send you pics.
Click to expand...

I tend to disagree. It is a big deal. If your glue fix fails and the plug falls out, your boat sinks. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when you try and explain to your insurance company how the glued plug method you used contrary to industry practice was "just as good". The reason for a plate and gasket with mechanical fasteners, or tapped holes with threaded plugs, is that these methods are proven watertight construction methods.

Henry
 
Henry Boyd said:
I tend to disagree. It is a big deal. If your glue fix fails and the plug falls out, your boat sinks. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when you try and explain to your insurance company how the glued plug method you used contrary to industry practice was "just as good". The reason for a plate and gasket with mechanical fasteners, or tapped holes with threaded plugs, is that these methods are proven watertight construction methods.

Henry
Click to expand...

No need to worry about my "glued plug" Unless it is pounded directly on with a ball peen, it isn't coming out, even then the cast aluminum would break too. The only reason I know this is because I had to take it apart a 2nd time to replace the swivel shaft and seal, should have done those the first time when I replaced my gimble ring :smt021 I had to remove the decal, paint, and grind it back down till I could see my original cut and then re-cut it again (at that point, I DID wish I had that ugly plate and screws) Believe me, it aint coming out unless you want it to come out. Applied correctly, roughing both surfaces and making sure they are clean, the JB will stand the test of time. Would I use it on say, my gimble ring? Noooo!! As to your comment about my "glue fix" guess what, IF either of the other two industry practiced methods fail, they will have the same consequences. I have as much confidence in my repair as I would in mercs plugs or JR's plate. Just because it isn't "industry practice" does not mean it wont work. It has been holding up beautifully thus far. If the day would happen to come, you are more than welcome to sit in on my conversation with the insurance agent, at the end of it I will kiss your a** and profess that you were right. :thumbsup:

BTW Nice job on taking my comment out of context. I meant that it is not a big deal making the repair, NOT that a transom leaking is no big deal. Maybe you were insinuating that my repair is shady somehow? To each his own. I don't care for the looks of the plate is all, so I did my repair which pleases ME aesthetically and IS durable regardless of what you think. As a long member here I value your opinion and knowledge but respectfully disagree with you on this one.
 
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MileHi270SR said:
No need to worry about my "glued plug" Unless it is pounded directly on with a ball peen, it isn't coming out, even then the cast aluminum would break too. The only reason I know this is because I had to take it apart a 2nd time due to needing to replace the swivel shaft and seal :smt021 and she was taking on water. I had to remove the decal, paint, and grind it back down till I could see my original cut and then re-cut it again (at that point, I DID wish I had that ugly plate and screws) Believe me, it aint coming out unless you want it to come out. Applied correctly, roughing both surfaces and making sure they are clean, the JB will stand the test of time. Would I use it on say, my gimble ring? Noooo!! As to your comment about my "glue fix" guess what, IF mercs plastic plugs fail, your boat sinks. IF your plate fails, your boat sinks. Just because it isn't "industry practice" does not mean it wont work. It has been holding up beautifully thus far. If the day would happen to come, you are more than welcome to sit in on my conversation with the insurance agent, at the end of it I will kiss your a** and profess that you were right. :thumbsup:

BTW Nice job on taking my comment out of context. I meant that it is not a big deal making the repair, NOT that a transom leaking is no big deal. Maybe you were insinuating that my repair is shady somehow? To each his own. I don't care for the looks of the plate is all, so I did my repair which pleases ME aesthetically and IS durable regardless of what you think.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is accurate to say that a repair method that is not an industry practice, is not automatically doomed to failure. It is also accurate to say that a repair method that is not an industry practice has limited to zero service history. So the consequence is nobody knows how long it will last, or if it will fail. And unless you have extensive work experience using adhesives to bond underwater metal machinery parts, or you have conducted real world testing to support your position, the accuracy of your assertion that this is a valid repair method is suspect.

As for your comment about how hard it was to remove the glue plug when you found you had to re-work your mechanical repair. You seem to miss my point, I won't deny epoxy works great on day one. My issue is how will it be after it has 200 hours (or 400, or 600) of being submerged and subjected to heat and vibration? Care to comment? Do you have any data to support your comment? We do know the mechanical methods will be fine based on the thousands of boats and tens of thousands of safe service hours. And to not put too fine a point on it, your admission of forgetting to install a critical component, the shaft seal, tends to add more doubt to your ability to engineer a viable alternate repair method.

I did take your comment out of context. I assumed you knew that any repair that involves the vessel's integrity, and by extension the safety of yourself, crew and guests, is a big deal. That you do not understand that point is the best reason I can think of to question your competency on this topic.

And finally, you are absolutely correct how you fix your boat is entirely your business and my opinion is irrelevant.

Well that is, my opinion was irrelevant up until the point you started to promote your unproven repair method on CSR. You want to experiment with your boat, fine have at it. You want to push an experimental repair method for a critical repair on the internet, be prepared to support your position with facts.

In the scientific community it is called peer review. As for my competency to comment, four decades of professional experience as an engineer in the maritime industry qualifies my input. My opinion is that you (or anyone for that matter) do not have any idea how long this repair will last. Given that an on water failure could lead to a loss of life, the lack of knowledge of the durability of this repair makes it unsafe. But hey, it looks great.

Henry
 
+ the freakin thing is underwater who cares what it looks like, and you went through all that trouble making the opening and repair, it's quite possible you might have to go back in a 2nd time
 
I am just reading this post today for the first time, and as a mechanical engineer myself, with an intimate knowledge of liability concerning repair methodology, collection of data, proper failure mode analysis, etc., I find that Henry has the right of it. The only thing I might add is that, without data collection over time, we also don't know what the long term affects of aluminum corrosion at the bond interface will be. I'll leave it at that. Thank you for the well-reasoned, professional, and scientifically grounded response, Henry.

Dale
 
I had same issue with rusty drip beneath drive shaft in 7.4 Bravo 3 setup. I was told that assembly was leaking at the bottom and that they would have to pull engine to replace the transom assembly. Once they pulled the 15 year old 7.4 engine (with 575 hours), we cked risers and manifolds and discovered corrosion on heads so bad that heads would need to be repaired or replaced. Long story short - I now have a new transom assembly and a new Mercruiser 383 Stroker with freshwater cooling. Only have 2 hours on the new engine but I now hit 38 mph at 4200 RPM (WOT is 4800 to 5200 but I haven't tried to do that yet – too new.) Boat sits much higher in water (2 to 3 more inches of bottom paint now showing). It’s only money and whole lot less than any new mid-sized car you can buy.
 
Noted. Was it you two engineers that came up with the lousy design in the first place? Steel shaft in wet environment and no reasonable access to it without major cost and/or headache...Genius!! Or were you absent that day?
 
Now I don't feel so bad when looking at my GPH & MPH on V drives ... all that drag is worth not having to mess around with this maintenance item on BII/III
 
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