Installing a Force 125 onto a different boat

[redfury]

So, I hung the motor on the back of the Glastron ( V178 ) and start to think to myself..self, you should have bought a Jack plate instead of using the mounting system they designed for the motor.....:grumpy:

What is the deal with this motor mount? Holding 125 Forces in place with 2 bolts and 2 clamps? With only 2 bolts holes to choose from, how am I supposed to make sure that my anti-ventilation plate is properly aligned with the hull, and if I do need to make an adjustment...I get one hole up?!

Is there any chance a person would get lucky enough to be able to move the motor onto another updated Mercury mount? I'm only curios, the money spent on something that might or might not work isn't in my budget, but man...how do you make sure that you are getting the motor mounted correctly without drilling extra holes in the transom.

 

[Frank Acampora]

In fact, because of the negatives of the four bolt system used on Force engines I swap almost all my engines to the clamp style transom mounts. These clamps tent to corrode drastically at the top two bolts and split--very bad for holding the engine onto the boat! LOL I even swapped them onto my 150.

The screw down clamps are forged, not cast (in fact ALL clamps are forged for strength) so as long as you don't try to get medieval in tightening them, they will cause no problems. You mount the engine at the approximate correct height. Then you use the top two holes in the bottom of the transom clamps to hold 3/8 bolts. This allows you to raise the engine one inch in the future without drilling new holes. The trick is to get some help in positioning the engine and to use some temporary blocking before drilling holes.

Because the transom clamps are beveled a bit due to forging clearance they tend to dent the transom fiberglass with age. I like to put a piece of hard aluminum about .080 thick between the transom clamps and transom. This prevents the clamps from sinking in and causing problems with the tilt/trim.

NOW: After all that: In the mid 1990s mercury DID go to the standard style mounting clamps with 4 holes on top and slots on the bottom. It used 4 X 1/2 inch stainless bolts and also used the same tilt/trim between them. I Have one of these units with a locked-up tilt/trim and eventually I do intend to fix it and put it on one of my engines.

 

[redfury]

I'm curious though, since they pretty much updated my 1987 motor from the old Chrysler style with distributor , I can only assume by looking at photos that the Chrysler and Force transom mounting systems are the exact same per hp category....The real question would be, did they change the way the leg mounts to the newer style mount? I mean, it's literally just two big solid cylindrical metal clamped to the transom mount.... I would suppose if they abandoned the old Chrysler specs and moved to Merc specs, they'd have essentially changed tooling over to a Mercury spec design, which may or may not match up to the old Chrysler set up.

Gah, it's annoying. It LOOKS like you could swap components, but the likeliness of it happening are probably slim at best. I just need a Jack plate. Of course, I found one on Craigslist in Nebraska for cheap cheap cheap...but I'm not in Nebraska.

 

[Frank Acampora]

I don't know exactly but the Mercury style transom mounts were used only on one or two tears. These will swap directly onto earlier Chrysler or Force engines. When Brunswick changed to Mercury style midleg and lower units, they did change the engine to transom mount attachment. I never tried but I don't think these will swap.