Alpha 1 Gen 2 Vertical Play

[Krysk12]

So I’ve done a fair amount of research and it seems to be that it’s more common to have lateral vs vertical play. My Drive has about an inch of vertical play in it. I can’t seem to find any info regarding this. My gimbal was recently inspected (turned out to be good), I replaced my bushings and both steel pins in the trim cylinders to have reached the same result. Just trying to get some feedback if anyone has dealt with this? Also my apologies if this is posted in the incorrectly location!

 

[alldodge]

What part of the drive has an inch of play?

 

[Krysk12]

lower unit, more play then it should. One thing I need to check is to make sure the bore for the trim cyclinder rods isn’t wore out.

 

[alldodge]

Are you saying the you can grab the lower unit and move the whole drive about an inch?

 

[Krysk12]

Yes that’s correct. I may be exaggerating on the “inch” but I can sure get half inch of play. I’ve looked at other boats with the same drive and never felt anything close to what I have. I recently removed my lower to inspect the u joints and upon installation I made sure all was tight and torqued.

 

[alldodge]

The up/down play comes from top and bottom pivot pins, and bell housing and bell housing pins. In most cases its the top and bottom steering pins and bushings

 

[Krysk12]

As in steering pins, it’s the trim cylinder pins I’m thinking of? Also thanks for the feedback!!

 

[alldodge]

The trim cylinder have replaceable bushings item 14
https://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30862/2686/180

 

[Krysk12]

Yeah I replaced the bushings and pins too! Didn’t improve my situation. I’ll dig into it a bit further and report back

 

[Searay205]

I had something similar. The steering pin was loose, i cranked down on it and problem solved. It has two nuts looks like a clamp.

 

[Krysk12]

I had something similar. The steering pin was loose, i cranked down on it and problem solved. It has two nuts looks like a clamp.

If I’m not mistake, there’s a pin on bottom and also another pin on top that are clamped with the two bolts running through it(those up top have a tq spec of 55). Is this the ones you speak of?