fogducker III
11-11-2008, 08:33 AM
So I got the 1:50 gear set installed, received the Hardin/Mayfair steering system as well as the drive shower in the mail yesterday and started to put it together yesterday afternoon.
One of the first steps was to remove the four upper studs that hold the upper gear case to the gimbal housing and replace them with the longer ones supplied in the kit. Well I take out my trusty stud removing tool and a ratchet and proceed to remove the first stud, it comes out great but on the last spin of the ratchet I hit the tip of the plastic stop check valve that stops the flow of gear oil from the resovoir to the lower leg, it breaks clean off.....:shocking:
So I make some panic calls to all THREE of the local Mercury parts places, it was almost closing time and Tuesday being a holiday I thought I was screwed.....:frown: None of the shops had the replacement valve and some didn't even know what I was refering to! On top of that, one place was nice enough to inform me that I had to remove the gimbal pins, shift linkage, bellows ring etc to get to the valve from the inside to replace it!!!
Well as a last resort I phoned an old friend who long ago use to be in the marine business on the off chance he knew where I could source a replacement valve, "Sure he said, come on over and I will dig one up........"
I get there and from a back storage shed he pulls out a dirt and dust covered Bravo gimbal housing and with a set of needlenose pliers pulls the valve out the FRONT of the housing......... I took it home and pulled the pieces of the old valve out the front of the housing and slipped in the new one..........done..:kingme:
Moral of the story, be more careful and never listen to a parts guy at a dealership...:wink:
So after all that I got the upper gear case installed as well as the drive shower and the external parts of the steering kit, looks good so far I think and I must say that the Hardin/Mayfair parts are 100% quality stuff!
What I now need to figure out is where the ram connects to the stern I am suppose to be 17 3/4" from the edge of the gimbal to the otside of the transom bracket where the ram fastens to. Problem is, the trim tab ram interfers with it. If I set it about an inch further over it clears but will this cut down considerably on my steering range?? The other possibility is to make a spacer to bring the transom bracket out a little to clear the trim ram, will that work?
I also have to get hold of the Brazil valve adaptor manifold, I didn't order one at the time of ordering the kit, it was alot extra for what I thought it was, I thought I could source one locally, WRONG! I can not find one other than straight from Hardin, any ideas?
http://www.hardin-marine.com/detail~ID~1150.aspx
Thanks for all the input and advice on this and my other posts, I know it must get boring seeing the same old mods over and over again with guys making the same mistakes....:yes:
PS. My Imco shortie should be here on Wednesday............:)
One of the first steps was to remove the four upper studs that hold the upper gear case to the gimbal housing and replace them with the longer ones supplied in the kit. Well I take out my trusty stud removing tool and a ratchet and proceed to remove the first stud, it comes out great but on the last spin of the ratchet I hit the tip of the plastic stop check valve that stops the flow of gear oil from the resovoir to the lower leg, it breaks clean off.....:shocking:
So I make some panic calls to all THREE of the local Mercury parts places, it was almost closing time and Tuesday being a holiday I thought I was screwed.....:frown: None of the shops had the replacement valve and some didn't even know what I was refering to! On top of that, one place was nice enough to inform me that I had to remove the gimbal pins, shift linkage, bellows ring etc to get to the valve from the inside to replace it!!!
Well as a last resort I phoned an old friend who long ago use to be in the marine business on the off chance he knew where I could source a replacement valve, "Sure he said, come on over and I will dig one up........"
I get there and from a back storage shed he pulls out a dirt and dust covered Bravo gimbal housing and with a set of needlenose pliers pulls the valve out the FRONT of the housing......... I took it home and pulled the pieces of the old valve out the front of the housing and slipped in the new one..........done..:kingme:
Moral of the story, be more careful and never listen to a parts guy at a dealership...:wink:
So after all that I got the upper gear case installed as well as the drive shower and the external parts of the steering kit, looks good so far I think and I must say that the Hardin/Mayfair parts are 100% quality stuff!
What I now need to figure out is where the ram connects to the stern I am suppose to be 17 3/4" from the edge of the gimbal to the otside of the transom bracket where the ram fastens to. Problem is, the trim tab ram interfers with it. If I set it about an inch further over it clears but will this cut down considerably on my steering range?? The other possibility is to make a spacer to bring the transom bracket out a little to clear the trim ram, will that work?
I also have to get hold of the Brazil valve adaptor manifold, I didn't order one at the time of ordering the kit, it was alot extra for what I thought it was, I thought I could source one locally, WRONG! I can not find one other than straight from Hardin, any ideas?
http://www.hardin-marine.com/detail~ID~1150.aspx
Thanks for all the input and advice on this and my other posts, I know it must get boring seeing the same old mods over and over again with guys making the same mistakes....:yes:
PS. My Imco shortie should be here on Wednesday............:)