VivaLaMigra
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2016
- Messages
- 45
I just did a successful steering upgrade on an early/mid 70's Chrysler 45 using the whole swivel assembly off a 1988 Force 50. Chrysler didn't have the thru-tilt steering tube then, there was a later version with a tube that wasn't concentric with the tilt bolt and you need a spring-loaded steering relay arm to make that work. The '88 Force 50 has the tube at the pivot like Merc or OMC so it isn't difficult to find a relay arm that will work. Getting the swivel off the Chrysler is pretty easy; once you remove the lower mount brackets and take off the exhaust silencing shrouds the powerhead will flop around on the vibration mounts and enable the swivel to slide off. It's a little tougher on the Force has they used a "hard" one-piece exhaust leg without a separate split lower shroud. You have to remove the powerhead bolts and exercise a bit of abuse but since it was a dead Force that wasn't an issue. Once you get the whole swivel off it goes directly on your 35 to 55 Chrysler. I even reused one Force motor mount bracket to replace the Chrysler one I had to hack up due to a frozen bolt. Another advantage of the swap is the Force assembly had much beefier clamp bolts with hex heads instead of the hand grips which provided a lot more peace of mind. IMO this is the way to go when modernizing the old motors to cable steering as you don't have to deal with splashwell mounts and clevis attachments.
