Motor transom bolts

[ChuckinVa]

I recently purchased a 1983 tracker pro 17 boat with a 35 HP Mercury outboard. The PO had taken the outboard off of the boat and used the boat on electric only lakes and ponds for several years. He reinstalled the outboard prior selling it to me. After I got the boat home I noticed two things. 1, the bolts that he used to bolt through the transom do not appear to be large enough, and 2. One side of the motor where the bolt goes through the motor bracket, the motor bracket is broken and so the side of the bolt is exposed. Not sure if I am explaining this well. He had a large washer covering the hole and it was not obvious that the bracket was broken. My question is, what size bolt should it be? Are they typically bronze or Stainless? Does any one have any ideas as to how I can improve the mounting on the side that is broken ?
Thanks,
CHUCK

 

[TNtroller]

Use stainless steel, and a easy way to find the bolt size would be to use some drill bits. You want to get a bolt slightly smaller than the actual hole size as you want/need/should fill the hole with 5200 and coat the bolt with 5200 as well to seal the hole from water intrusion.

You might be able to get the motor bracket welded up to fix the broken mounting hole, but someone with more experience on that will chime in soon.

 

[kofkorn]

Most standard mounting bolts are 1/2-13 UNC thread pitch. I agree that you definitely want to stick with stainless.

Can you take a picture of your broken bracket and post it? It will give everyone a good idea of the position of the break and make suggestions easier.

Good luck!

 

[ChuckinVa]

I will try and get a picture up tonight. Haven't tried to load pics yet so we will see how that goes.
Thanks for the replies.
CHUCK

 

[ChuckinVa]

here is the right side which is intact.

Here is left side which is broken


Here is both sides in the same shot.

 

[kofkorn]

Well that's pretty severe. I would definitely want that repaired. The good thing is that bolt really only sees stress when the motor is in reverse or when you are trailering. It shouldn't be hard or expensive to have someone weld a repair piece onto that. When it's done, it will be as good as new.

Good Luck!

 

[huntinfool]

Yep, that's gonna need a repair job.

 

[ChuckinVa]

kofkorn » 13 Aug 2014, 06:31[/url]"]Well that's pretty severe. I would definitely want that repaired. The good thing is that bolt really only sees stress when the motor is in reverse or when you are trailering. It shouldn't be hard or expensive to have someone weld a repair piece onto that. When it's done, it will be as good as new.

Good Luck!

My concern is if the material can be welded. It appears to be what we call pot metal or some type of cast metal. Maybe if someone has any experience welding this material they can chime in with some expertise.

Thanks,
CHUCK

 

[kofkorn]

I've seen a number of lower units welded that I would guess are made of the same material. I guess the way I look at it, the end result wouldn't be any worse that what the OP has now.

If welding isn't an easy option, I'm sure the bracket would be available on Ebay or via a parts store for relatively short money too.

Either way, the current bracket needs to be fixed or replaced.

Good luck!

 

[ChuckinVa]

I found a used set on Ebay that I think will work for my model and have it headed my way. Hopefully I can get it changed out pretty quickly. Looks like I'll need to figure out a way to take the outboard off of the boat While I swap it out. Thanks for the heads up on the Ebay option.

CHUCK

 

[kofkorn]

Good deal. I'm glad you found something that quickly. To hold the motor while you are changing out, see if you have a buddy with an engine hoist. Hopefully, you won't need to remove it completely from the boat, just take some of the load off while you swap the bracket.
If that doesn't pan out, you'll have to figure out some way to get something overhead attached.

The steering tube will have to be loosened and partially removed. If you have access to the nut on the port side, you are in luck. Some of the motors have the nut recessed which means you to turn the entire steering tube instead of just twisting the nut off. If the nut on the starboard side starts to turn, then stop turning the tube. You don't want to mess up your steering cable. Keep spinning the starboard nut off until it jams up against the nut for the steering cable. At this point, you should have no problem turning the nut off of the port side.

However, if the port nut is recessed into the bracket, you'll have to completely remove the steering cable and then twist the entire tilt tube to un-thread the port nut. A little more of a hassle, but still doable without removing the motor from the transom.

Definitely replace those undersized bolts with the correct size as well. In addition to possibly having the motor pull those washers right through, you'll also be soaking your transom. Replace with the right sized bolts and use some 3M 5200 in the holes.

Good luck!

 

[ChuckinVa]

It looks like I have access to the nut on the port side unless I'm looking at a nut cover. I picked up 1/2" stainless bolts washers and Nylocks today and a tube of 5200. The parts are supposed to arrive Tuesday so hopefully I can get something together by then to take the weight off of the motor. I am hoping I can jut loosen up the port side and swap it out. Where I have to take the other nuts loose, should I be using locktite on the threads when I put them back together?

CHUCK

 

[JoshKeller]

honestly, since its only a 35 hp, i'd leave it alone. many many many tiller 25 and 35s are attached only with the thumb screws at the top.

if it was at the top, yes, id replace it. at the bottom, and the washer still snugs it up against the transom, i'd leave it alone. trim the motor up and lift the lower unit, push it down, side to side. see if its really making a difference.

 

[kofkorn]

ChuckinVa » Yesterday, 22:03[/url]"]The parts are supposed to arrive Tuesday so hopefully I can get something together by then to take the weight off of the motor. I am hoping I can jut loosen up the port side and swap it out. Where I have to take the other nuts loose, should I be using locktite on the threads when I put them back together?

For the locktite, don't use it on the tilt tube nuts. You don't want any chance of that getting into your steering mechanism. For the other things such as the tilt/trail lock, your call. I might use the blue locktite on anything that doesn't already have a locking washer, and is away from any freely moving mechanism. Most likely, if it didn't have it before, I wouldn't add it in.

For supporting the motor, maybe you can lightly wedge something under the port side of the tilt tube to lift that side of the motor and allow you to slide the bracket off and on. Hopefully the bracket is not corroded or jammed onto the tilt tube.

As to the comment about leaving it, I agree that on a 35 hp motor, it isn't as critical as a 150, but if the manufacturer didn't think it needed the bolt there, they wouldn't have added it. Again to me, the only time this sees significant stress is if the motor is in reverse or if it's bouncing down the road.

The smaller bolts are a far bigger concern.

Good luck!

 

[JoshKeller]

kofkorn » Today, 09:00[/url]"]

ChuckinVa » Yesterday, 22:03[/url]"]The parts are supposed to arrive Tuesday so hopefully I can get something together by then to take the weight off of the motor. I am hoping I can jut loosen up the port side and swap it out. Where I have to take the other nuts loose, should I be using locktite on the threads when I put them back together?

For the locktite, don't use it on the tilt tube nuts. You don't want any chance of that getting into your steering mechanism. For the other things such as the tilt/trail lock, your call. I might use the blue locktite on anything that doesn't already have a locking washer, and is away from any freely moving mechanism. Most likely, if it didn't have it before, I wouldn't add it in.

For supporting the motor, maybe you can lightly wedge something under the port side of the tilt tube to lift that side of the motor and allow you to slide the bracket off and on. Hopefully the bracket is not corroded or jammed onto the tilt tube.

As to the comment about leaving it, I agree that on a 35 hp motor, it isn't as critical as a 150, but if the manufacturer didn't think it needed the bolt there, they wouldn't have added it. Again to me, the only time this sees significant stress is if the motor is in reverse or if it's bouncing down the road.

The smaller bolts are a far bigger concern.

Good luck!

my 1994 merc 25 hp tiller had the quick removal thumb bolts and also had holes on the bottom to use bolts and ive never seen anyone use those.

 

[ChuckinVa]

I received my transom brackets today and they are not the correct bracket for my motor. Apparently my motor is not a 1985 model like the PO thought. From what I can tell it may be a 1970's model. Bummer for two reasons. One, the motor is older than I thought and two I now own a set of brackets that won't fit my motor. I sent the Seller I bought them from a message this evening to see if they have the correct bracket ( I now have a model number off of my bracket, I didn't know it was cast into the piece. Now I know ). So we will see. I took the boat out on Sunday and after flooding the outboard pretty good on initial start up I finally got it started and it ran fine. I checked the "fix" on the bracket with the washer and it seems to be staying tight for now.
CHUCK

 

[kofkorn]

Hi Chuck,

What is the model number on your motor?? I'm always suspicious when buying a motor. There are so many cases where someone says "Mid-80's motor for sale" and it ends up being a '73. On any given day, you can see a number of motors on Craigslist listed wrong.

That sucks that you ended up with the wrong brackets. I hope your seller has the ability to swap them for you.

Good luck!

 

[ChuckinVa]

kofkorn » 19 Aug 2014, 08:27[/url]"]Hi Chuck,

What is the model number on your motor?? I'm always suspicious when buying a motor. There are so many cases where someone says "Mid-80's motor for sale" and it ends up being a '73. On any given day, you can see a number of motors on Craigslist listed wrong.

That sucks that you ended up with the wrong brackets. I hope your seller has the ability to swap them for you.

Good luck!

Well that is a good question. The serial number is not clear and I have tried several combinations of the number. The first character looks like a B followed by 8162346 or it could be 38262346 but I have put both numbers in search engines and it has come back not a valid number. The seller will only take returns on their errors so I own this set. They are willing to work to try and find me another bracket but want the serial number. I sent the 38162346 number to them to see if they can recognize it. My guess is at this point it may be a 70's model based on some other pictures I have seen on the web. If I had looked at the picture and my bracket more closely I would have seen the differences. I was going off of what the PO had told me which was incorrect. I don't think it was intentional. I just think he was repeating what he was told by the person he bought it from.

CHUCK

 

[kofkorn]

On the johnnyrudes the model and serial number is stamped into a plug on the powerhead. I don't have experience with Mercs, but they may have something similar in another location.

 

[ChuckinVa]

kofkorn » 20 Aug 2014, 08:38[/url]"]On the johnnyrudes the model and serial number is stamped into a plug on the powerhead. I don't have experience with Mercs, but they may have something similar in another location.

I will take the cowl off and see if I can find it anywhere else. Someone suggested it might be on the freeze plug but i'm not sure where that is located. I'm going to see if I can find a diagram that will show it. The vendor I bought the bracket could not dentify either of the numbers. They said that they think what they sent to me is for a motor that has trim and tilt and that if the holes line up I should be able to use it. I would have to drill out a bossed section of the bracket on each side to bolt up the piece that holds the motor in the up position and replace both brackets which I would prefer not to do and i'm not sure the piece that keeps the motor from rising when it is in reverse will match up. They are trying to find one that will match what I have. I sent a picture of it this evening so hopefully it will work out. i will update when I know more.

CHUCK