Transom Swivel Bushings

[AMD Rules]

Assembled a rebuilt power head from a few different years of parts..

"150hp Mercury V6. Mid 80's lower unit and transom assembly, Late 80's power head, early 90's cowling and mid-section. First trial run, doubled up on oil for break in period. So far so good."

I bought a manual jack plate.

Reason for that specific jack plate is that it is convertible from 2-1/2" or 5" offset. I may not need offset, but not having to remove the bolts from the transom each time I remove the motor could extend the life of the transom over time (less risk of water intrusion). That's my theory and I'm sticking to it

MY QUESTIONS:

I have quite a bit of slop between the exhaust housing steering swivel and the bushings. Because I mis-matched years of parts I either have worn bushings (possible) or Mercury changed the diameter or clearances of the bushings/swivel arm over the years and mixing the parts was not a wise choice. Not too sure yet, we'll see. Anyone have much experience rebuilding Merc transom swivel assemblies? I'd like to make it as solid as possible, and may even consider solid motor mounts. Bushing easy to remove & replace?

1985

Approx 1993

 

[Chris1956]

AMD, I have never disassembled a V6 swivel bracket, but I did disassemble a Inline Merc Swivel Bracket to grease the bushings. You need to remove gearcase and powerhead. Then you need to catch up on your praying, as some of the parts may be corroded on.....Is it the bushings that are bad or the upper and lower rubber mounts (#10 in your diaghram)?

 

[AMD Rules]

Thanks Chris, I've had this completely apart during assembly. The motor mounts seem good and tight, the lower bushing (and maybe the upper bushing) on the swivel has -way- too much clearance/play. Could be worn bushings, or its quite possible (likely) the diameter of the steering swivel changed over the years. I have three transom assemblies, this is assembled from pieces from at least two if not all three of them.

 

[Dukedog]

Not to bad ta replace tha bushings, Yours will be tha bottom ( 3 ram T&T looks like) diagram even though you may have tha "skinny" arm. Tha skinny arm went away in later years. '89/'90 maybe? Tha top one (single ram T&T) went away on production motors in '83/'84. What you may run into with older stuff is tha adapter plates "slots" that sandwich tha motor mounts get wore and produce some slop as well as worn motor mounts. Normally, if tha slots are worn there will be some tell-tale signs if ya look real close.........Solid mounts are GOOD but do both top and bottom or not at all..........jmo

Tha swivel bushings didn't change till '92..........

 

[AMD Rules]

Hey Duke, I must have grabbed one wrong diagram. All three transom assemblies I have are 3-ram style. I wanted to get rid of the skinny/longer arm, to make the hydraulic steering more compact. I wasn't sure if the Baystar kit I have would mount very well to the skinny arm.

I know for sure my skinny arm that I took off came from the 1985 motor, and the transom bracket I have on the motor now is the 1985. I borrowed the shorter swivel arm from one of the other transom assemblies, likely the 1993 model. I think that's the root source of my problem.

OC272987 (1990 175hp V6) - Uses bushing part number: 23-67669 BUSHING, SWIVEL BRACKET (LOWER AND UPPER)
OD240454 (1993 135/150/175/200/XR6/Mag III) - Uses bushing part number: 23-818764 BUSHING, SWIVEL BRACKET (LOWER AND UPPER)

You'll recognize that I had to use the drive shaft housing from a newer model so that I could mount the newer cowling (I like it better). and it has different idle exhaust ports (rubber boot).

Thanks for the advice fellas, I may just have to pull everything apart and start measuring.