Re: Loose steering, Mercruiser 120
Woodrat, you most likely have play between the steering arm & the upper swivel pin....The only way to correct it is to tighten the two bolts located under the pipe plugs with hex heads on the outside (top) of the transom shield.....They are 5/8" heads with a fine thread 7/16" - 20, you should be able to torue to 45-50#. If that doesn't work, the other possibility is that the gimbal ring or upper swivel shaft is degraded through corrosion.....There is a pipe plug looking thing with a hex head at the bottom of the swivel shaft....Tightening that is the only way to take the slop out of the gimbal ring & upper swivel shaft......But you can't see it without removing the bell housing.....<br />Some models have a stop nut that sits on top of the upper swivel shaft.....Accessable through the inside of the boat.....Hard to get at, it might help, but I doubt it....<br />If the play cannot be taken out with these methods, there is degradation in either the steering arm splines, the gimbal ring splines or the splines on the upper swivel shaft itself....
or both <br />Replacement is not cheap & will most likely be a beotch on a boat that age. If you get any improvement with the steps I listed above, I say live with it until it gets really bad
......Hope this helps.....
JK<br />EDIT: The two plugs at the top of the transom shield are 9/16" hex or take a bolt with that head size & a pair of vice grips....
