I just installed my 4" setback brkt. All mounting 4 bolts were found to be loose!

[Arizona Hotboater]

Check those bolts. Mine are nylock and in good shape. All were loose enough to easily turn with a wrench. This creates play that can easily shear an otherwise good bolt.

Also I bolted on the the borrowed flywheel for testing. The starter gear wont work as the teeth on the flywheel are finer than mine. (More teeth) I may swap magnets into my flywheel and test that way. Anyone ever do this?

AZH

[tombrown]

Thanks for the warning. Were you using a thread locking compound of some kind? I'm thinking of using the red Loc-Tite when I mount my plate.


-- Tom

[Barney]

You were very tight, threading a fine line.

How was the bolts color?

:D

[Greg Moss]

Hi-performance boats are not maintainance free. Every time I run mine I go over everything and tighten up all the bolts. The vibration and pounding that you put these boats through will shake things loose. Fasteners can only take so much, Mounting bolts stretch, Transoms will, no matter how good they are, compress. Loc-tite and a torque wrench will help but a simple check after a hard run will do wonders. Also a torque wrench on the flywheel every once in a while never hurts.

[Arizona Hotboater]

I didnt use lock-tite. Never have before and never had a bolt loosen like that. I just tightened the bolts 6 outings ago. I didnt think loc-tite was needed on Nylock.
Bolt color and condition it fine. Transom bolts were tight and I have never checked those since I got the boat. The loose ones were the ones between the plate and motor. Greg, Thanks for the e-mail on the magnets. Barney, How do you put the smiley faces in the body of the post?

Thanks,
AZH

[Balzy]

nuts there is no need for Locktite. They didn't lossen up. The bolts have stretched. I have had that happen on bolts that had 2 nuts used as jam nuts. The nuts were still tight to each other and the bolts had loosened up. That's why ya gotta check this **** every time you go out.

[WillyT]

I noticed this weekend that my buddy's 1988 Winner bass boat has the 150 Johnson GT mounted on a manual setback/jack. It is the simple 2-piece (two pieces on each side) "L" angles type with height adjusting rods. The moveable angles, to which the engine is attached, are "jacked" several inches above the stationary angles that are mounted to the transom (which is typical). The upper bolts that hold the two angles together (one upper bolt on each side), however, are several inches below the top of the stationary angles. The total distance from the top of the engine mounting brackets to these bolts just seems too long, especially since the engine is mounted up a couple of engine bracket holes on the moveable angles (which is also fairly typical). I would think that those upper angle connecting bolts should be very near to the top of the stationary angles to minimize the "lever arm" as much as possible. The bolts that hold the stationary angles to the TRANSOM of the boat ARE very near the top. I suspect that there are a lot of "L angle" setbacks out there that would benefit by a HIGHER upper connecting bolt position, and/or DOUBLE upper bolts in this area (or bolts greater than 1/2" diameter). It appeared that the use of "slots" versus "holes" made my buddy's situation easy to correct, but I have not look at it all that close yet. His rig seems to approach the configuration of the Allison rig that has been the subject of so much discussion lately.

[Todd]

Don't forget to check transom braces. I keep a coat of paint over / between my transom and braces. Any movement or play will crack the paint. This is a quick way to tell something is or has been lose.