98 Mariner 150 swivel bracket

[Wet Bandit]

After 16 years and over 2,000 hours of salt water service I'm afraid to say that my swivel bracket is tight and corroded very badly. I've oiled and greased the crap out of the thing and there's little to no improvement, and after loosing a steering cable because of it I've decided to replace the whole swivel bracket and be done with it. My Question is has anyone here done this, I was hoping that I could simply unbolt the thing and while holding the motor with a cherry picker swap out the swivel brackets. I'm Really hoping i don't have to remove the power head from the mid section to get at it, any help and advice will be greatly appreciated I wanna keep the old mariner running as long as i can its been great this is the only real problem I've ever had with it.

 

[Dukedog]

If your including tha swivel pin it will have ta come off. Just be aware (do to lotsa salt water use) that separating tha power head from tha mid could possibly be next ta impossible without destroyin' some mid parts. Usually tha down housing. Ya never know till ya get started........... If that's tha case sometimes with a lot of patience and suggestions from folks on here ya can get lucky........gl

 

[Wet Bandit]

Dang I was afraid of that, I plan on sourcing a used swivel bracket and pin as a whole cause mine is all shot, luckily our season is pretty much over anyway so I've got all winter to sort this thing out, wish I could find some step by step instructions on this been searching the web for days, Thanks for the reply

 

[Dukedog]

20 or 25"? You should be able ta find a complete mid, trim and all reasonable. Think they went to tha 2 wire, relay trim motors in '96 so anything from there up would be a direct bolt-on for your power head.........

 

[Wet Bandit]

She's a 25", finding something like that salt free would be great.

 

[Dukedog]

A fresh water 25 may be a little more difficult......

 

[Mi duckdown]

How does the motor run? compression numbers? 2,000 hours. Just food for thought.

 

[Wet Bandit]

Runs like the day we picked it up back in 98, pulls hard and revs to the max without hesitation, and for a 2 stroke smoke is minimal, so I think it's worth my time to fix it. I kind of wanna see if we can squeeze 20 years out of her although at this point that motor owes me nothing.

 

[Chris1956]

Wet, The motor swivels on a set of bushings. Those are what corrodes. If the rest of the bracket (mostly the steering arm) is in good shape, perhaps you can just clean up the bushings and pivot shaft. You will still need to drop the gearcase and pull the powerhead.

Then commence reciting a long selection of prayers to the supreme being, and tear into the midsection. The prayers sometimes help remove the corrosion.