gimble housing bolts need replacing

[300 Ray]

Hey , Question 2 ya all. My dock partner has a 1988 Sundancer with twin 5.7 Litre Alphas. During winterization last year he noticed the nuts on the inside transom area of the gimble housing assembly to be rotted off. The boat was a prior salt-water boat but now in Fresh water. Question is does anyone no where to purchase this hardware? I have started to look for it but not having much luck. Thanx Dan

 

[fc3]

Sounds like you are saying that the studs (part # 16-56296) are corroded and missing. That's a big job. The studs thread into the gimbal housing. Nuts (part # 11-34933) with washers (# 12-34567) at the end of the studs hold the transom plate. Since the aft end of the engine is supported by the transom plate, this is a big problem. If he is lucky, he can just replace the bad hardware. If he's not so lucky, the engine has to come out, the sterndrive has to come off and the gimbal to transom plate separated from the boat's transom in order to remove and install new studs. If he's really screwed, the gimbal housing might need to be replaced. If the studs won't hold in the gimbal housing, for my money, I'd drill out the housing and use Timeserts. Timeserts are very, very good.

So first suggestion is to get the above parts from a Mercruiser dealer and see if it all torques down (not a lot of torque 20-25 foot lbs.) If so, you're good to go. Otherwise remove the studs and replace. If the new studs don't hold in the gimbal housing, try to drill and install Timeserts. If he can't do that, then the engine has to come out.

Above part numbers are 1988 part numbers. They probably have been superseded, but the parts guy has to do something to earn his pay.
Best regards,
Frank C.

 

[Salty Dog - LI]

300 Ray:

If your friend is lucky, it may be the bottom 2 bolts that rotted off. These bolt through the stern from the outside. They are special aluminum bolts with rubber gaskets. My bolt gaskets leaked from corroding bolt heads. Water got in through the bolts and corroded the bolt shafts, which made them break in half. I was taking on water! The boat was hauled, the old bolts were removed. The core wood was inspected and found to be slightly wet (not rotted). I caught it in time. New Mercruiser bolts with rubber gaskets were installed with Boat Life caulking. Due to the limited clearance inside the hull, the locking nuts with washers were screwed on as the bolts with caulk applied were inserted. The boat was then put back in the water, with no additional trouble.