Solid Motor Mounts

[Chaz]

If you are going to run the prop shaft 12"below the bottom of the hull , then by all means leave the rubber mounts in and let it shake like an old washing machine . Might even find some music that match's the rhythm ...
But as you move the motor up in quest of speed , then the mounts will be the first area needing attention.
Aluminum is good , it's best to have them anodized or at least paint them starting with a good zinc chromate primer . They tend to corrode quickly if you don't .
Delrin is cheap and easy to machine , last's a long time , and of course can be plugged right in as is .
I guess Mercury wasn't worried too much about Tesla and Prius owners buying their 300x motor's , because if they were , they certainly wouldn't have equipped them with solid mounts from the factory ...
Micro jiggle wearing out the swivel pin and bushing ... really ?
Right behind the lack of lubrication , I would have to say it's the front and side loaded pressure being exerted by the thrust and paddle wheel effect of a surfacing prop . Of course you have to saw the wheel back and forth to generate any wear .
On some of the 20" shortened to 15" swivel brackets I do , I will machine the lower boss to accept two lower bushings . That's the area that wear's the most . I like to use the stock seal on the bottom and a thick walled O-ring at the top .
If you look at it realistically , the next biggest culprit to bad handling is that the tiller pin is bolted directly to the engine adapter plate , while the lower yoke is slid onto loosely machined splines with a wave washer to provide preload .
The "slop stop" that Vnemous showed transfers some of the side load on the bushing to the thrust face of the yoke . Tighten it up until the motor won't turn , then back it off a flat and it's ready to run .
Next is , people don't grease the tilt pin zerk fitting . The shaft seizes in the bracket and wears the hole out in the side mounting arms .
So no matter where you draw the line , make sure you keep all working parts lubed up if you want it to live ...

[phillnjack]

100% agree with above, far too many people not lubricating the mid -sections enough. they will do the thru tube, but not the main
pivot shaft, I have seen this so many times.
if it looks greasy they wont go near it, might get a bit of dirt on the finger nails !!!.

I am not guilty of this, I love getting out the grease gun and seeing all the old gunge come out, very often with a drop of water that would have just sat there and start the rusting and corroding game.
also sometimes old grease can go hard and not do the job its meant to do.
its just a 2 minute job and bit of rag to wipe it down afterwards. and can save a absolute fortune in parts ,plus time off the water.

some sort of coating on the mounts is a good idea too, I use mine in salt water as well as fresh, so I will be coating my tops.
bottoms are easy to get at, but tops only when the powerhead comes off, so hopefully never !
while its down paint inside the adaptor plate too and anything you can get at.

[Bruce2]

You can buy the plastic solid mounts from sierra for mercury's 65- 75 bucks apiece and i can buy 2 foot of Delrin for 40 bucks and make all 4....thanks again for the replies.

[Bruce2]

Finally got around to doing my motor mounts, went with the delrin and have the top mounts made and waiting on the material for the bottom mounts....Question is how much play should there be in the bottom yoke on steering tube?...i took it off and looked at tube splines and yoke splines and they look good but there is some looseness in it...pic of the upper mounts.

[vnemous]

The yoke on the bottom of steering arm is sloppy. Chaz on the board makes a "stop slop" set up. Go to page 56 post 833 on the thread I post and you can see it. I did it on my X and took all the play out.

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...highlight=slop

[Bruce2]

Thanks Vnemous...I'll have to see what i come up with since i have a machine shop at my disposal.

[phillnjack]

Very nice top mounts Bruce2
you have done a real good job, they look factory and a perfect fit, great job.

[WillySteve]

Bob's machine sells the steel mounts for 95 bucks a set of 4, the delrin i can get a 2 foot stick for around 35 bucks and my Brother is a machinist. After doing much googling i have found that Yamaha has solid mounts made out of Delrin available. Thanks everyone for your input...

I've made delrin mounts for several with no problems and will again if need be! They're easy to tool too!

[Onetime]

Porta Products was making delrin mounts for outboards 25 years ago. They were all I ever used. Installed a lot of them in Mercury V-6's. Never had a problem. Don't tighten the bolts to the factory spec as they compress.
Chaz, how are you holding the threaded sleeve in the steering pin with your "stop slop"?

[JPEROG]

Porta Products was making delrin mounts for outboards 25 years ago. They were all I ever used. Installed a lot of them in Mercury V-6's. Never had a problem. Don't tighten the bolts to the factory spec as they compress.
Chaz, how are you holding the threaded sleeve in the steering pin with your "stop slop"?

He welds them. This "slop stop" was started by Scott Porta as well-he told Chaz to take it and run. After he replaces all of the bushings and seals along with setting some preload on the bottom they are really tight and perfect.

Joe

[Bruce2]

Porta Products was making delrin mounts for outboards 25 years ago. They were all I ever used. Installed a lot of them in Mercury V-6's. Never had a problem. Don't tighten the bolts to the factory spec as they compress.
Chaz, how are you holding the threaded sleeve in the steering pin with your "stop slop"?

How tight should i tighten the too then..?

[Onetime]

Plug weld after drilling a hole in the steering pin tube?

[Onetime]

Going from memory here and it was a long time ago. I think the stock bolts going through the mount where torqued to 30-35 ft lbs. The Porta ones were 15. Again just going from memory.
Maybe Joe or Chaz nows for sure. Maybe they remember and can tell the story about Mercury engineers and Scott's mounts.

[Bruce2]

Starting to assemble everything back together, but still trying to figure out what torque spec's are for the delrin mounts, i have the uppers torqued to 20 foot pounds and normal torque on bolts are 50... i know mercury sells delrin mounts as well as sierra and i did find Porta mounts also, but no body will state torque spec's. on the bolts..

[Bruce2]

Torqued bottom mounts to 30. i use white delrin for bottoms all back together all i have to do is put powerhead back on.