Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

[Friscoboater]

I found this on youtube and it looked interesting. Has anyone heard of the gimbal ring getting wallowed out from poor maintenance?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

Has anyone heard of the gimbal ring getting wallowed out from poor maintenance?

Ayuh,... I've seen quite a few of 'em, although not that bad...

 

[frank246]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

Dealin` with the same problem right now.... alto never seen that much play.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

What actually gives out? Is it the top retainers, or the sides where the trim senders are?

 

[Don S]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

What actually gives out? Is it the top retainers, or the sides where the trim senders are?

That is what you have to find out. Some of that slop may be in the steering cable itself. have someone hold the steering arm solid inside the boat, then see how much slop there is. Whatever is left is between the gimbal ring and the steering shaft.

 

[Mischief Managed]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

Wear or a loose bolt in the steering lever can result in slop too. My steering lever has play in it that allows about 1/2" of side to side slop (measured at the aft end of the drive) and I intend to replace it the next time I have it apart.

One thing you can do to prevent gimbal ring wear is install a heavy duty U-bolt in place of the stock unit. Still have to check the torque at regular intervals, but the heavy duty hardware does not need tightening as often. That said, it's a lot of work to replace the U-bolt and I'd only recommend doing this if you have it apart for other reasons. Another option is to replace the entire gimbal ring with a stainless steel part. That'll really tax the sacrifical anodes though.

 

[brntrt]

Re: Has anyone seen this? Worn out Gimbal ring.

Hi, I have seen this before, and as a former certified mercruiser mech, this is not that uncomon. They (mercruiser) came out in the older unit with a kit that was a square hex in the gimbal ring with the regular spline on the top half of the shaft that connects the stearing cable to the gimbal ring. In watching the youtube clip I noticed that the unit proably had the squared hex on the lower section. I would recomend that you make sure that the nuts on the back side of the bolts going through the gimbal ring are tight, then check the inner connections of the stearing lever and the cable end. If any of these connections are a little loose this will result in a sloppy stearing system. I hope this helps, and best of luck and happy boating!!