gimbal testing done right???

[150aintenuff]

this is probably a OSO question but the answers here are more reliable, i have a customer looking at a boat with twin bravos, but a recent survey claims the gimbal is bad and about to fail because of side to side motion of the port drive while the starboard remains stationary, ( single cable std in boat tiebar powereassisted) i call BS because the drive its self has no vertical and or longitudinal play in the gimbal ring pins and i suspect its the top pin and steering arm connection has worked loose and rounded slightly more than the other drive that has a tighter mechanical connection to the steering..

there are no vibrations, boat runs smooth and is fully responsive in both directions.. nothing in operation that would point to a gimbal failure, boat has approx 340 hrs on it its my job to go back through the boat with the owner and ease his concerns on his new to him boat, but without an exact rebuttle argument i wont be able to do thqt in his eyes so all you stern drive experts let me know if it is the gimbal or not...

[flabum1017]

The tiller arm usually comes loose on those, sometimes simply tightenening it up will solve the problem. Getting to the bolt can be tricky, you may have to get the plug kit and drill into the upper gimball housing for access. The pin an also comes loose in the gimball ring which if not corroded badly can sometime be fixed by tightening as well. If you look under the top of the gimball ring, you can see the bottom of the steering pin....move the drive side to side and see if there is any movement in the relation betwen the pin and gimball ring.

[150aintenuff]

The tiller arm usually comes loose on those, sometimes simply tightenening it up will solve the problem. Getting to the bolt can be tricky, you may have to get the plug kit and drill into the upper gimball housing for access. The pin an also comes loose in the gimball ring which if not corroded badly can sometime be fixed by tightening as well. If you look under the top of the gimball ring, you can see the bottom of the steering pin....move the drive side to side and see if there is any movement in the relation betwen the pin and gimball ring.

will try that once the boat is out of the water and on a trailer....... the idea of trying that in a 44* river right now is not that appealing.... but agree its not a gimbal ring and or bearing problem at all..

[Greg Moss]

Could very well be the gimble wore out. the steering shaft is steel and the gimble is aluminum which you think is going to wear out first. The best way to check the tightness of the nut on top of the shaft is check with a feeler gauge the 10thousands clearance on the bottom of the gimble at the bottom steering pin. they have a u-bolt at the top that supposed to be able to take the slop out of the gimble but it ain't worth a **** for doing it. the metal is so thick the u-bolt will stretch and break before collapsing the gimble ring back down around the steering shaft.

[150aintenuff]

in talking to a few other people i know with bravos they all said to varify the steering pin is tight first because they all had seen where it worked loose and caused the slop and only after the nut worked loose did gimbal wear occure will definactly check for the clearances, but from what im seeing on the boat the gimbal itself isnt bad because everythiung else is ship shape..

[Baja16]

in talking to a few other people i know with bravos they all said to varify the steering pin is tight first because they all had seen where it worked loose and caused the slop and only after the nut worked loose did gimbal wear occure will definactly check for the clearances, but from what im seeing on the boat the gimbal itself isnt bad because everythiung else is ship shape..


i'd check the pin to see if its lose too... if its got twins i'd think both drives would be sloppy if the gimbal was worn or something since they both drives have the same/or close to the same run time.

[150aintenuff]

i'd check the pin to see if its lose too... if its got twins i'd think both drives would be sloppy if the gimbal was worn or something since they both drives have the same/or close to the same run time.

exactially and i would think the starboard would be bad as it takes the stress of both with the tye bar and main steering input , not the port.... as in this case....

[Greg Moss]

Those nuts don't just come loose. I work on a ton of Mercruisers and those nuts are Nylock and don't come loose. I have seen one rusted big time and the washer under it was gone and the pin slipped but never seen one of those nuts come loose. You have a steel pin in side an aluminum gimble that is the most likely wear point. I just hauled off all my old scrap or I could of shown you a picture of one.

[Greg Moss]

Here's some pictures they are not very good but you can see the pieces you are working with. This is the shaft with the rusted nut. the wore out square in the gimble ring and what the nut looks like when it's in a good housing and steering arm.

[skykingtim]

I agree with greg, i seen alot of worn gimbal's--no big deal--about $500 for a new one or there is a place in tenn. that rebuilds the gimbal and shaft for $300 and about a days labor to replace it--at the same time replace all the belows