Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

[rocketboy52]

I posted a few weeks ago on this forum about how to find a transom leak. I pulled the engine and found that the Y pipe was wasted.

After pulling the Y pipe I saw alot of oxide on the inner transom plate. There was some serious build up on the plate and one of the lower bolts was missing. I decided to pull the transom plate, and was really glad that I did because it ended up being broken in two. You really couldn't tell it was busted when then it was bolted in place.

The two lower bolts where totally wasted too

From the way these bolts rottend, It looks like these bolts are aluminum, but I haven't been able to find a replacement source for these. Can I replace these with stainless Carriage bolts from the hardware store, or is there transom special about these?

Also, I have seen a number Pre Alpha transom plates on Ebay, but my Steering tube attaches above the tiller arm cut out, All the plates I have found have the steering tube mounted below the tiller cut out. Is there any reason why I need to find a transom plate idendical to my orginal? Here is one I am talking about.
http://tinyurl.com/otakm

Lastly, while I have the engine out, I am going to replace the bellows, the main trim lines, the transom gasket, and paint everything. Is there anything else I should make sure I do while I have the motor out?
Thanks, in Advance for all your help! d

 

[KaGee]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Looks like a stress crack to me. Sure your transom isn't suffering too? I'd be checking that out before proceeding.

 

[Don S]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Get the right parts or you will never get things to work out right. That inner transom plate is also what the engine sits on. Those ones with different steering are probably for a Chevy engine and you have a Ford. They are different. That one you had the link to isn't even close to working.
I'm like Keith, I would suspect a rotted transom also with all that corrosion. and water corrosion is what killed the bolts.
Get the proper Merc bolts.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Not to add to your woes, but that's EXACTLY what mine looked like when I pulled it a year or two ago. As mentioned above, it turned out that my transom was rotting out. I ended up needing to rebuild my transom and was able to find a good replacement transom assembly on ebay. All' good now, but it did require a lot of work. (It's either a lot of work, or a lot of money).

The good news? It isn't both. 8)

It you can do the work, it isn't terribly expensive, just very difficult and time consuming. If you don't have the expertise or time, prepare to empty your wallet!

 

[sker crunch]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Those 2 rotted aluminum bolts you are referring to are your anodes for cathodic protection. You need to get the correct replacements.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Yep on the taking a GOOD look at that transom. I think you will find rot too

 

[rocketboy52]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

So I'm guessing I'll need to search the forum to learn how to determine if the transom is rotted out. The one saving grace I may have is that I bought the boat in Utah where it spent it's last 10 years sitting in the high desert of where the humidity is really. really, really low.

How do I determine if the transom needs to be replaced? It looks well sealed, dry and sturdy with no signs of warping, softness or cracking. Because of a dented skeg and prop, I"m guessing that the boat hit something hard and popped the bolts and transom plate.

As far as the bolts, I've been looking for Mercruiser bolts all over the internet but haven't found any. I don't care much for our local Merc Dealer and would rather give an honest business out there my business. Don S recommended http://www.mercstuff.com/ in another post, but I haven't found those bolts yet.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

If you have the complete transom assembly off you should be able to tell how solid the transom is by knocking on it. Any rotted areas will sound hollow instead of "solid."

The bolts you need look like this:

I know ebasicpower.com sells them, but be careful - they have excellent prices, but HORRIBLE customer service.

 

[rocketboy52]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

I started banging around on the transom with a rubber mallet, and it looks solid. I tried stabbing the transom with a screw driver and it seemed fine. I cleaned up the bildgetransom/ area this morning and Im' pretty confident that it is solid. The cutout is still sealed with resin from the factory, and the inside and outside of the transom doesnt' show any signs of stress of flexing. I did a search on "rotten Transom" and "soft transom" and it looks like most of the guys could tell if their transom was bad once the transom plate was off. Anything else I should do to "test" the integrity of the transom?

 

[KaGee]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

It's your call man.

Good luck finding your parts, I hope you are back on the water soon.

 

[Purduebarry]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

You might consider drilling a few test holes with a small (1/4" bit) from the inside. Generally they rot from the bottom, where your crack was. The problem is the water gets in and can't get back out, that's what causes the rot. The dessert may have saved you this problem. If the test holes come out with clean, dry, hard wood then just rough sand the surface, clean with acetone and reseal the test holes. If you want to be anal you can inject some CPES into the holes first, let it set up for a few days and then reseal. Make sure it is completely dry however or the resin will not cure. Also put some tape on the drill bit at about 1.5" to prevent overdrilling. I'd use a variable speed drill and go slow. If you get damp, coffee grounds (like I did) time to rebuild the transom.

I'd hate to see you go through all this rework and have more problems due to a rotten transom. Don't be too confident from the hardness, the resin over the wood will feel solid but if the transom is rotten inside it will not stand up to the torque of the engine and cause problems eventually. You are VERY lucky if you avoid having a rotten transom. From the pics it seems likey that you have some but it is hard to tell. In Georgia, like me no dobut, you'd have rot!

 

[rocketboy52]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

I found the exhaust piece on ebay and won the auction this afternoon. I'm still looking for sources of the transom plate. The number on the Transom plate is: 59821. Is this a part number or a serial number for the engine/sterndrive unit? I haven't found a source for a transom plate, but that may take a while to track one down, especially if I just keep watching ebay. I'll check out ebasicpower.com to see if I can find one there.

 

[Purduebarry]

Re: Transom Leak found..now where to find new bolts?

Rocket,

I usually give these links to OMC owners but most carry Mercs too. Give em a shot, if they don't carry the parts they may tip you to someone who does. Worth a shot. Cut and paste the links, site still acting goofy.


www.sterndrive.com/index.cfm

www.dougrussell.com/

www.crowleymarine.com/index.cfm

www.sterndrive.info/index.html