Do i have a grumbly gimbal?

[geardownthreegreens]

Hi guys

Took my Rinker out for the first time this Sunday(what a glorious day).
Its fitted with a 4.3ltr merc alpha 1. We noticed a bit of a sound at idol, a slight rumble. We took the main drive belt off which meant that the sound could only be either, the crank or gimbal.The engine looks clean,and its had a new flywheel and starter and exhaust.
Could this possibly be a slightly worn gimbal bearing? Anyone ever had to replace one, what were the symptons? How big a job is it to replace? We dont need to remove engine do we? Rough cost for a marine engineer to do the work?
Cheers guys
Si

 

[B175Chris]

We're having our gimbal ring replaced, I'd be interested to find out how much people are paying here for it...

 

[SkipperMarv]

I have just replaced one of our gimbal bearings, did it myself though.

There is no need to remove the engine, just the leg, the noise we had was a grumbling at idle that got worse it the steering was turned.

One thing though, the bearing is inside the bellows, so it might be an idea to replace the bellows, the universal joints etc, we lifted ours to replace the bellows etc and found the noise we have had for a while was the gimbal bearing all rusted and worn, there was no sign of a leak from the bellows but there may have been some time in the past that caused it, we replaced the universal joints seeing the leg was off and it was just as well we did, they wouldn't have lasted a season.

I recon it should take around 3 hours to replace just the gimbal bearing and add another 1 if you replace the bellows and UJ's with the leg off.

Lastly we have also heard of noises from the merc legs like a grumbling, but it is due to the gear selection cable needing adjusted, so check this first, also get the cable checked with the leg off if it needs to be removed, one of ours was worn through.

Hope this helps.

 

[davedpc]

Replaced one of mine a couple of years ago sourced from a local bearing supplier at a much cheaper price. It turned out not to be the g/b but a slight grinding of the cluch when in neutral. Just going into reverse and back to neutral clears the noise. It only happens on one leg after a run and could best be fixed with a little adjustment of the gear selector cable. Worth a try before slipping the boat. If i rememer the replacement bearing was slightly longer on the inner diameter otherwise a perfect fit.

 

[geardownthreegreens]

Many thanks for that guys.

Yes, i've noticed a slight increase in noise on steering so i now do suspect the gimbal, DOH!!!!!
I'd certainly replace any other accessible parts whilst all open,only makes sense i guess for my piece of mind.

Well i'm hoping, and i'm in no rush to do it, that a mechanic friend of mine will help me out here,afterall, he likes to come out on the boat also /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Cheers again.
Si