play in steering mechanism

[vinnie1234]

I have a 400 series outdrive and am new to boats. I notice that; there is a small amount of play both left to right and also up and down when I grab the upper and lower gearcase and wiggle them relative to the intermediate housing. The play is maybe 1/8" or less. is this normal? all fasteners are tight. Thanks!

 

[Scott Danforth]

stringer 400's are a bit sloppy, however you could be missing the bushings from the ears on the upper that get clamped to the intermediate.

not sure if the link will post, however http://www.sterndrive.info/id12.html

 

[vinnie1234]

Thanks for the reply scott. The bushings are in there and the clamps are tight. The pivot point for left to right play is at the steering axis. the up/down play could be measured by putting a dial guage on top of the upper gearcase and lifting on the lower.

 

[southkogs]

True Course Steering should be pretty tight - virtually no play as I understand it. What year drive is this?

Up and down might wiggle a little bit based on the teeth of the quadrant gear, but if you can actually get the gear on the clutch pack to move you may have more substantial problems.

 

[vinnie1234]

I don't know what year it is. I am guessing 1982, as it is a mechanical shift? When you speak of the quadrant gear are you referring to the tilt mechanism? If so there is zero play there. The vertical play I am referring to is on vertical axis with the driveshaft(water pump shaft). There is up/down that is noticeable but I would say less than an eighth of an inch. Left/right play would be perhaps 5 degrees-ish?
As we talk about this, I remember that as I pull into the dock, or travel at low speeds I need to make a lot of rather drastic steering corrections. I thought that this might be normal, as I have never owned or driven a boat prior to this. It is a crestliner crusader 775. I am starting to think that the steering play is not normal. It would be the true course steering I think, as (if I understand it correctly) the steering wheel does not want to move if you take your hands off the wheel. Once you get going it steers fairly easily and with no noticeable pulls.

One thing I did not take apart was the steering portion of the upper gearcase. I probably should have, as in other parts of the boat I found some pretty shoddy workmanship. It would still be good to know what is normal though.

 

[southkogs]

I don't know what year it is. I am guessing 1982, as it is a mechanical shift?

There should be a tag on the engine somewhere (you can see mine in this photo:


That should help you figure out the year. If it's an '82 it should be mechanical shift.

When you speak of the quadrant gear are you referring to the tilt mechanism? If so there is zero play there. The vertical play I am referring to is on vertical axis with the driveshaft(water pump shaft). There is up/down that is noticeable but I would say less than an eighth of an inch. Left/right play would be perhaps 5 degrees-ish?

Correct, the quadrant gear is the tilt gear.

Check and make sure your exhaust housing is tight to both the lower and the top cap. Otherwise, there shouldn't be much (if any) movement within the unit itself.

As we talk about this, I remember that as I pull into the dock, or travel at low speeds I need to make a lot of rather drastic steering corrections. I thought that this might be normal, as I have never owned or driven a boat prior to this. It is a crestliner crusader 775. I am starting to think that the steering play is not normal. It would be the true course steering I think, as (if I understand it correctly) the steering wheel does not want to move if you take your hands off the wheel. Once you get going it steers fairly easily and with no noticeable pulls.

A mechanical shift would be True-Course. And I don't know that system very well. I would assume there shouldn't be any play based on what I know, but I'm no expert. The low speed issue your describing is what's called "bow wander" and is pretty normal on I/O boats at lower speeds. The front will want to drift a little (depending on the conditions, maybe a lot) while you're at low speed. That part, you've gotta' kind of learn your boat and just work with it.

The 5 degree play at the outdrive is a little different than that. I don't know how big a deal that is.

 

[vinnie1234]

The engine label is 990245d and specifies a 99110 or something like that for the outdrive. That doesn't matter cuz the outdrive is an 883488. There was something about the lower that made me think it was an 800 series, but I can't remember why. The upper says 400 on it. I figured 1982 because it is an old piece of crap and it's mechanical shift. Lol! I am hoping to make it not be a piece of crap.

 

[southkogs]

990245D is a 1978 140HP. It should be hydro-mechanical shift and the outdrive should be a 400 (400 was the 4 & 6 cyl, the 800 was the 8 cyl). If it's a true mechanical shift (and I don't know a lot about hyrdo or mechanical) then you've probably got a patchwork drive - which isn't all that uncommon.

There should be a HIN number on your boats transom (or on your paperwork or the capacity plate). Since it's a later 70's or 80's model boat, you should be able to narrow down the year from that.

 

[vinnie1234]

Thanks for the advice Southkogs. 100% I know I am dealing with a heinz 57 here.. It is a full mechanical shift. Having said that, if I look at parts diagrams for the 990245, almost everything is the same, except for the shift mech. So for this reason I don't see much benefit in knowing the exact year. What I would really like the know is what engine was that 883 series from?

 

[southkogs]

Stringer model numbers don't seem to have meant much, or at least I've never figured 'em out. Deal with 'em by shift type and HP. The lowers seem almost completely interchangeable as long as the shift structure is the same. It's the upper gear case that is different. The 140 drive probably didn't share a gear ratio with any other drive (I don't have specs in front of me for newer Stringers to tell for sure).

The '79 140 was a GM 181 and I think was the same basic engine as in the Mercruiser of the same year.

 

[vinnie1234]

Sounds about right to me, however I modified the upper recently. I picked up a used electric shift stringer for 100 bucks. I wanted it for the tilt and water pump. When I took the upper of my boat to inspect it, there was. No bearing under the pinion gear. It was just resting on top of the housing. The ball gear was half chewed off the input shaft and the threads were all messed up so the input shaft was unusable. I had to use the parts from the electric shift to make a working gearcase and of course in order to do this I had to change the pinion gears as there is a slight difference in the input shaft between the two models. It was pretty tricky to get it installed properly, but now she is not stock anymore. It works good though. So I will work with it! Saved me having to buy a new upper.