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Alpha One Generation One Gimbal Plate
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This sale is for 1 Alpha One Generation One gimbal plate!
Plates are all in good useable or excellent condition and the price reflects just that!
This plate will include what is pictured but these are not actual pictures. You can not post actual pictures unless you only have 1 to list and I have many.
This ad is for exhaust pattern on left in second picture. Contact me for availability of vertical exhaust pattern on right, if I have them they are $50 extra.
This ad is for what I call a first Mint condition for $350 and it is Great looking & totally useable. I Also have what I call seconds for $275 listed
1)
The water inlet tube with grommet 2 bolts and Grommet cover plate! So damages don’t occur in shipping the tube will not be installed.
2)
The 2 studs for the back of the plate that mount above the bearing area. These may or may not be installed.
3)
The 2 studs, nuts & washers for the bottom of the plate to mount the hydraulic divider block.
I do not include bellows, transom seals and such items as some customers already have bought them but I have them for you at a discounted price.
This housing may be used as an upgrade from a pre alpha or possibly a type 1 but you should contact me for upgrade information before buying because depending on your application differant things may also have to be changed or modified like exhaust or inner transom plate.
Once you buy reconditioned parts from me the discounts are as follows, And it is usually recommended to replace the following items as well.
Bellows sets (Transom repair kit) with gimbal bearing and outdrive gasket are $100
Outer transom seal $15
Steering shaft seal
$20
Exhaust seal
$15
New trim
sensors
Port
and Starboard $75 per set
New shift cable $60
The gimbal bearings are removed and all bellows surfaces are good. I deburr the plates in a deburring machine with soap, water & 1/4’” soft ceramic media to remove algae and loose paint. Every bolt & grease fitting hole I put bolts in to stop the media from getting into the hole so I know all threads are good.
Also check the pictures for your exhaust pattern (2nd picture) and if you check the second picture you will see the standard 4 bolt pattern that was used on most all boats from 1982 to 1991 Alpha One Generation One’s but in 1989 and 1990 there was also some plates/exhaust patterns that used a 5
th
hole (check picture 2) you would still use 4 bolts it would be a different hole for the top starboard bolt. You can use 3 bolts to hold the plate on and many people do without a problem if your top bolt is different. The exhaust is a machined surface and the exhaust seal is O ring horse shoe shaped so the seal is not a problem.
95% of my stock come from upstate NY, Ohio, Kansas & Illinois so fresh water but the truth is I have seen more damage from hard fresh water then from salt water.
This is not actual pictures and I do not send actual pictures!
I sell so many parts that trying to keep a posted picture is impossible and if you asked for a picture and paid for it an hour later the part might have already been packed for some one else. So please don’t ask for pictures.
Shipping is free in the continental US and I should have shipping prices listed outside US but if you dont see your shipping quote please ask. Alaska, Hawaii & Puerto Rico are a little extra but ebay does not allow setting for them on shipping. Packed the weight is about 20 pounds.
I Started this business Mikes Alphas to give people an honest place to get the right part the first time for a fair price. Check my feed back over 1000 strong and climbing. Ebay is about one third of my sales.
Payment methods accepted are
Paypal Preferred
Visa / MasterCard
Discover
American Express
Receive payment upon pickup
I also accept credit cards over the phone if you don’t have an online payment method. Oh I also except Snail Mail!
I am trying to set it up so the first quality stock has a yellow background and second quality has a red background.
OK, eBay’s has a duplicate policy that prevents me from listing all configurations of selling these housings. The explanation is as follows. EBay will automatically remove listings that are duplicates or close to being the same so I can’t list this or any sale close to being the same. eBay states in there policy that as long as I change the price and the description the ad is fine and I can use generic pictures but when trying this eBay removes the listing saying they are duplicates. So if I list this same ad with all new seals and change the price $100 extra it will be automatically removed so I can’t just list the same ad with a new shift cable or it will be removed
The tips belows are just general information that should help you be more aware and may or may not apply to this sale.
TIPS
I guess the first tip I should give you is also a warning. If you are not doing the work yourself, and you hired a mechanic to do the work for you. You should go over all the parts I ship you with a fine tooth comb before giving the parts to the mechanic because mechanics do not want to accept any responsibility for damages they cause. I can’t cover damages caused by you or a third party. For Instance I had a customer take purchased gimbal housing to a mechanic for install and the mechanic dropped it and broke a bottom corner off the housing and the mechanic said it was like that when he got it. The customer knew it was not broken when he gave it to the mechanic but insisted I cover under warrantee and his reason was he could not afford to buy gimbal housing. The customer tried to get his money back through PayPal but couldn’t because the damage done was by a third party. The point is I have never found an honest boat shop and most customers don’t try to play these games, it was rare. But no matter where you get your parts always inspect them. You should always inspect your parts when they arrive because I can only file a shipping damage claim within 3 days of your receiving the parts.
TIP Explanation!
These tips are all for standard housings/boats that have a shift cable from engine to drive like these Alpha One Generation One’s, Type 1’s, Pre alphas, Alpha One Generation Two’s and Bravo’s. The type 2, TR, TRS and Speed Masters are totally different and the guidelines do not apply because they have transmissions built inside the boat and used mainly on big boats or house boats.
TIP
It does not matter which Gimbals/Transom housings you have on your boat in comparison to engine size. The difference is done in the top half of the out drive. For instance the same housing is used on 4, 6 or 8 cylinder engines. The difference is in the gear ratio in the top of the drive like in the older drives it would be for a V8 1.47 to 1 gear ratio or for a 4 cylinder 1.85 to 1 ratio. And a 6 cylinder would have been a 1.65 to 1 gear ratio. The newer drives the ratio has changed a little and don’t quote me on this but the V8’s are now 1.50 to 1 gear ration. All the ratio means is the engine will turn 1 and ½ times and the prop on the drive will only turn once. The main differences in gimbals is in the year and model of the transom housing.
TIP
This part is how to identify what transom assembly you have. It is mainly according to the year of the boat but because some boat manufacturers had extra old stock when manufacturing the boats the years may overlap. For instance type 1’s or also called MC 1’s were used from 1963 through 1975 and then the pre alphas started but if a manufacturer had extra type 1’s they may have mounted the type 1’s in 1976 & in 77. Also unless you bought the boat new you don’t know if it has ever been upgraded or downgraded because of cost.
Tip
When buying you have to be extremely careful and I will give 5 examples
1)
eBay allows sellers to use stock photos and yesterday 2/29/12 I found just such a listing, The title said it was an Alpha One Generation One but the picture showed an Alpha One Generation Two and in the item description it stated it was from a 1981. Also in the description it stated the photo was a stock photo and it was a picture of a new Alpha One Generation Two. The price was $700.00 with $75.00 shipping. The point on this is if you were searching for a gen 1 you would not have gotten it and if you went by the picture you would not have gotten it and the parts don’t interchange. The next part of this listing was the price $700 for a pre alpha gimbal worth $75. And now the second example is
2)
The sellers of gimbals most of the time don’t state whether or not they are actual pictures and I have seen them use the same picture over and over and over, We all know they can’t be selling the same item because they are used and different markings, rust, corrosion or possibly a different model so you don’t know what you are getting and I have seen sellers use the same picture and have 3 auctions listed at different prices like
$400, $500 or $600 and I guess they know which one they will send you but you don’t.
3)
Another trick is spray painting over corroded holes, cracks of filling cracks with paint. I buy a lot of gimbals 500+ a year from mainly fresh water suppliers in bulk and individual eBay auctions when they are the right price and you would not believe the damage I see when they arrive, the sellers think it is a good sales trick but it is a scam no matter how you look at it.
4)
Another thing you have to watch for is sellers that say steering is tight on the used gimbal, LAUGH OUT LOUD! Most of the time when you replace a gimbal it is because the steering is too loose and that is the main reason the gimbal was removed from the boat in the first place and why it is for sale. This is very dangerous because sellers will take 5 minutes and tighten the top nut on the steering shaft to draw the shaft up (over tighten) or over tighten the 2 top ring bolts and if you mount this as is the ring will snap at high speed and flip the boat. It may not happen until you hit a big wave and it may not happen until you hit a wave just right but odds are it will happen and has happened. In 2007 when I lived in Florida I had a phone call from a man that lost his child in a boating incident. I can’t remember if he bought a used housing with over tightened ring bolts or if he over tightened the bolts himself be he lost his 2 year old son. He was grief stricken and just wanted to get the parts to fix the boat to sell. He really wanted to junk the boat but he couldn’t afford it. You can check with Mercruiser tech support and they will tell you not to over tighten the ring and how dangerous it can be.
5)
I found a listing today 3-1-2012 that lists the gimbal with actual pictures and it is listed as remanufactured and in the description all it says is he installed a transom repair kit bellows and bearing and it is $500 + shipping. It’s an Alpha One Generation Two so and with the kit the price is not bad but it should be listed as used. When you select the setting remanufactured it states that it has been fully disassembled and reassembled and this clearly was not done so it makes me wonder if may be the ring was over tightened or if something was hidden with the transom repair kit. The number 1 point is that he is violating eBay policy.
6)
There is oh so many incorrect used boat items listed on the net and if I had to guess I would say 40% to 50% improperly listed and about 10% of used boat items are deadly. As much as eBay would like to correct the boat part issues in the listings they can’t hire someone like me to separate and remove most of these bad listings because they are not like auto parts, tractor parts or truck parts that are more common so the discrepancies are not easily spotted. But eBay is getting better and better all the time. So you have to give eBay the credit for trying. There are way too many things for me to post as a warning so I will sum it up BUYER BEWARE! And always disassemble and repair a used gimbal no matter how good the seller says it is! It is not worth the chance you are taking by mounting a used complete gimbal. And also if you don’t disassemble what about leaks? I have heard all the horror stories! And I have seen them come in here.
TIP
I wrote these tips for the Alpha One Generation One advertisement but I will copy & paste all these tips into most of my ad’s to help educate all concerned so in some cases a tip may not apply.
TIP
Mercruiser has a bit of humor when naming parts; a car/truck has a bell housing on the back of the engine over the fly wheel; but on a boat Mercruiser calls that part the fly wheel cover. When cars and trucks were made the fly wheel cover looked like a bell so they called it a bell housing. On a boat it is called a fly wheel cover and the flywheel cover on a boat acts as rear motor mounts and connects to the inner transom plate.
TIP
There is 3 main parts to a complete gimbal assembly and I will list them with explanation now.
The main gimbal housing/plate bolts to the rear of the boat (outside) and the part that allows it to turn left and right is called a gimbal ring and the gimbal ring attaches inside the gimbal plate top with steering shaft and bottom with a swivel pin & cotter key. The Bell housing is the next part; it fits into the gimbal ring with hinge pins left/port and right/starboard and swings up and down and you mount the out drive on the bell housings studs (usually 6)
TIP
There are 5 main models most people have and they all use shift cables from engine out to the out drive. Type 1, pre alpha, Alpha One Generation One, Alpha One Generation Two & Bravo and there are some slight differences but this should put you on the right track.
If you read the above tip you know what the parts are called so let’s start with type 1 1963 up to 1976 grease fittings were on the sides of the bell housings and no other model has grease fittings on the bell housings only type 1’s. Starting in 1976 all hinge pin grease fittings were moved to the gimbal rings and at some point Mercruiser stopped putting grease fittings on any of the parts.
Pre-alphas can be the hardest to identify because it was a changeover period and a lot of different configurations. I have all the parts in stock. Pre alphas started with 2 trim sensors on the ring in 1976 but no bolts though the top of the rings. But in 1981 pre alphas started use square to round spline steering shafts with square on the rings so the rings had 2 bolts but the plates and bells were still pre alpha. Pre alpha exhaust patterns were the same as type 1 either 1 hole with 3 bolts and 1 O ring or 3 holes with 5 bolt holes and 3 O rings (2 small 1 Large) But in 1982 the exhaust on pre alphas started with horse shoe shaped exhaust. But all pre alphas had grease fittings on the rings for the hinge pins and no indents for the stickers on the bell housings.
The Alpha One Generation One’s these are harder to identify from type 1’s, Alpha One Generation Two’s or Bravo but if you eliminate those 3 it gets easier so read on. From 1983 & up everything has a forked steering arm inside the boat from the gimbal. The Alpha One Generation One also has indents on the sides of the bell housings for the stickers to fit into, no other models have this indent just gen 1.
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That is the main difference. All Alpha One Generation One gimbal rings have 2 bolts going through the top of the ring to lock onto the steering shaft. And everything after 1983 has a horse shoe shaped exhaust seal and square to square steering shaft.
The easy way to identify an Alpha One Generation Two is in the way the hydraulic rams attach to the drive and the gimbal ring. everything Mercruiser makes except Alpha One Generation Two uses nuts, washers and black grommets to attach the rams to their shafts where the Alpha One Generation Two uses what is call E clips and thin white plastic inserts. Alpha One Generation Two’s are the only model that uses E clips.
As far as identifying Bravo’s look at the picture of an Alpha One Generation One and you will see what is called a 2 bolt ring. Alpha One Generation One & Alpha One Generation Two have these 2 bolts but a Bravo actually has a U bolt and the way you tell the difference is on Alpha One Generation One & Alpha One Generation Two you see the heads of the bolts where the Bravos you see the nuts and the U is on the backside of the ring.
Tip
Parts are not interchangeable between type 1 or any alpha/bravo series.
TIP
Other than using an alpha drive you can’t use any alpha gimbal on a ford motor at all.
TIP
Upgrading can be possible and I know all the configurations but there are too many configurations for me to list so you will have to call for your application.
TIP
If you park your boat or store your boat more than 1 week you should always put the out drive down position. This prevents the bellows from prematurely over stretching, cracking & tearing. By keeping the drives down when stored it also keeps the seals on the hydraulic rams in oil so they don’t dry out and freeze in the up position. I will explain this 1 step further. No matter what oil you use in your hydraulic system there will be some bubbling in the system and when you park/store the boat the bubbles always raise up and if your drive is up then you get air pockets at the highest point in the rams. Usually when the rams are frozen in the up position you have to replace them and they are not cheap so store the boat with drive down so oil is near the end caps and it keeps the seals lubricated.
TIP
If you are assembling and replacing all your gimbal parts then you can purchase in advance but If you are replacing a ring, bell or gimbal housing you really should take your old gimbal apart first. The reason I say this is sometimes the gimbal almost falls apart and depending on corrosion you might end up breaking a bell, ring or the main housing just getting it apart.
Tip
Let’s say you buy a gimbal housing for a boat worth $200 and the housing is $250 and seals, gaskets, bellows and things make it run $500 to $600 to fix and you buy in advance and when you get the old housing off you find the transom has rotted out and it will cost $3000 to fix. Point is, take it apart and check it to be sure the boat is worth the money your putting in it. I have had this happen with customers so I speak from experience.
TIP
I don’t know why people pay $200 to $1000 for these on e-bay without knowing they are good. There is no way of knowing they are good until you take them apart!
TIP
If you are slightly mechanically inclined, and have a standard set of tools, Sockets, Wrenches, Pliers and screwdrivers you can do your own gimbal work yourself.
TIP
You can upgrade from older, hard to find parts for models to this Alpha One Generation One but you should contact me first to see what else you would have to change.
I buy complete gimbal housings on e-bay all the time. I take them apart and Clean/refurbish. The point I want to get across is that around 80% of the complete gimbal housings have a problem. For instance I received 4 complete gimbal housings in a week and out of the 4, 1 had a cracked bell, 1 had a bad ring and 3 of them had bad plates. Let’s face it people sell their junk on e-bay. And most sellers are in it frankly for the money. People advertise the complete gimbal housings as like new, fresh water, bolt and go, nice and tight & excellent condition. The most common phrase is (worked when it came off the boat) or (Didn’t leak when removed from the boat). Most sellers don’t mention it was taken off the boat 10 years ago. LOL Until the unit is taken apart there is no way of knowing what is good or what is bad, and as soon as you start to take it apart it is yours. Paypal will only cover you as long as item has not been touched, as soon as you touch a wrench to the item you accept that item at face value. When you take the item apart and find a bad crack, break or badly corroded part it is too late item is yours. Yes item has to be as described but that is on a visual inspection from the outside. With my items nothing is hidden and you only have to buy the part one time! I hate being ripped off on e-bay with these gimbals so if you decide to buy from someone else here are a couple things to look for on these gimbals. In the picture check and see from a front view if it looks like brown rust color inside the drive shaft bellows this usually means that the unit had a bellows leak and the bell housing or the gimbal plate itself has rotted/deteriorated, also from the back if you see any signs of roughness under what looks like new paint there is a good chance that the seller sprayed it quick to hide the corrosion and that weak spot may go all the way through and sink your boat, of course if the back has not been painted you may see rust or corrosion and that may go all the way through. These are the normal damage area. And there will be a lot of them posted through the spring as people take their bad housings off and try and get as much as they can for them on e-bay.
TIP
I am sure these will not be mounted to a new boat so making sure the plate is flush with the transom is a slight concern. The old fiberglass and wood has a tendency to warp and bulge. With just a plate sliding into place you can make sure that it fits flush. If you try and mount a completely assembled unit or even just the plate to an uneven surface when you tighten it down (Cast Aluminum) you stand a chance of cracking the plate.
Tip
A used gimbal should be disassembled not only to check for cracks or holes but also the steering shaft should be removed. The reason the shaft should be removed and cleaned is by design the gimbal ring wears out rather than break. When a boat sits corrosion build up around the shaft between the metal surfaces (steal to cast aluminum) and it can feel tight but when used it loosens up and you can hardly control your boat! It can take 100 hours use before the corrosion loosens up on the steering shaft and most sellers give a 7 day warrantee or no warrantee at all. This is the main reason you should not spend over $200 for a used gimbal! The truth is I never pay over $150 for a gimbal and yet most sellers on eBay are trying to get $400 to $800 for them LOL. Of course I put in 12 to 15 hours into each gimbal + parts and paint. The problem buyers have buying the mint condition used gimbal on the net is the sellers claim mint or excellent condition but they have no way of knowing until it is disassembled and they do not disassemble them! Once a buyer installs a gimbal that was supposed to be in excellent condition the buyer is stuck with it. EBay and PayPal both state if you install it you have accepted it and you cannot return it.
TIP
These are Alpha One Generation One and there is other older styles like pre-alpha and type 1. There is confusion out there about pre-alphas and most people including some Mercury and Mercruiser tech’s think that anything older than 1983 is pre-alpha because it pre-dates Alpha One Generation One. This is not true. Pre-alphas started from 1976 to 1983 and type 1 or also called MC 1 were from 1963 to 1975. During these times from 1963 to 1983 there was also type 2, TRS & TR. The type 2, TRS & TR all had transmissions inside the boat and did not use a coned shaped shift cable bellows. If you need help to identifying the model/type of Mercruiser you have please don’t hesitate to message me.
TIP
Don’t get me wrong I sell a lot of individual parts Bell housings, rings and plates to repair the used gimbals that buyers buy on the net and I hear all the complaints but it is usually too late for the buyer to go back on the seller! Of course positive feedback is left to sellers before they find out if the gimbal is good or not. I sell reconditioned kits and all parts are separated for your inspection. I do not sell used damaged assembled gimbals. There is a reason the gimbals are removed from a boat in the first place. Check a sellers other listings and see if they are using the same pictures for all the gimbals they have listed, if they do then the pictures are worthless as the pictured gimbal has already been sold. This is why I state not actual pictures! I want to mention that there is times while I am processing these parts and I have them all cleaned and start painting that I will notice a hairline crack and then check it and see the crack goes all the way through. My point is simple, with everything apart and passed a first, second and maybe a third inspection If you do buy a used gimbal. I will be glad to sell you the replacement parts that you will need and I offer free phone support to help you get it apart to fix it.
TIP
Everything newer then Alpha One Generation One 1983 and up have a bushing in the top of the gimbal plate that the steering shaft goes through and everything older than 1983 uses a needle bearing. Also everything newer then 1983 uses a square part of the shaft that goes through the ring.
Tip
What is so commonly called pre alpha 1976 to 1983 is a changeover period for Mercruiser. Mercruiser was working on a final design and that design is what is now called Alpha One Generation One. During this time Mercruiser changed and corrected steering and exhaust issues. In 76 Mercruiser went from 1 trim limit switch at the top of the ring to 2 switches called sensors, these sensors are on the sides of the rings and act as a grease seal. These sensors are port trim limit (TL) to stop the pump when the drive reaches its maximum height and the starboard side is trim position (TP) and this goes to a gauge on the dash to show the position of the drive in the water. Before 1976 the grease fittings were on the bell housings and starting in 76 the grease fittings were moved to the ring. In about 1982 the exhaust pattern changed from O rings to a horse shoe shaped O ring. And in about 1981 the steering shaft changed from round spline for the arm and round spline for the ring to round spline for the arm and square for the ring. It was in 1983 Mercruiser perfected the square to square steering shaft. 2 bolt rings actually started in 1981 on pre alphas but they are Alpha One Generation One rings.
I won’t sell you parts if they won’t fit your boat. Call even if you just having trouble getting yours disassembled. I may know an easier way. Call even if you already have your parts but can’t seem to figure out how to put it back together. Boats are a hole in the water that you throw $$$ in. May be I can help you save some Money!
I will also have tips listed with hydraulic rams and pumps for the rams and pumps.
When I started writing these tips I had no idea it was going to be a book so if you need more info well, you will have to give me a call, I don’t pay long distance so if you do just ask and I will call you back if you are in the US or Canada!
I wanted to mention how I got started in this business; I was just trying to fix my boat about 10 years ago and I needed a gimbal ring for my 1977 20 foot Cuddy cabin boat. I bought 15 gimbals for the ring and I did not know the differences in the parts but the sellers said they would fit and the steering was tight. Out of them 13 were the wrong ones and were from different models and 2 were the correct model. One of the correct models pre-alpha the gear type splines were worn so bad the steering arm flopped side to side and would not turn the ring at all and the other one someone tried to fix the worn splines by drilling a hole through the top of the ring into the steering shaft to make it tight and the screw fell out. I was living in a apartment in Florida at the time and my wife gave me a choice they go or she goes. Needless to say gimbals weigh so much (50 Pounds) that returning them to the seller was not worth the cost of shipping so I disassembled them cleaned them up/repainted them and took the time and did the research to find out what the parts fit and started relisting them for sale on eBay. When I started selling I basically swore an oath to myself to always be truthful about everything I sell because of the troubles I had just trying to get the gimbal ring I needed. I don’t think I have ever had a bad feedback. I have upset customers because I have refused to sell them parts that I knew would not work for their application. I really don’t care if you buy from me or not, email, eBay messaging and phone support is free. With just a few pictures I can pretty much identify all makes and models of Mercruiser. And if you call usually I can determine what model you have just by getting a few questions answered. When you consider if I make a mistake I pay all shipping charges for returns/replacements, you can bet that I am going to be sure to identify your parts correctly the first time.
Oh I just had an older man and his wife come here on about 2-25-12 and they traveled 500 miles to get here because he bought an Alpha One Generation One gimbal to replace his type 1 gimbal and this man tried for 2 weeks to make all the modifications work and he finally had to give up. It would not work but I was able to set him up with the correct parts and so he could use the Alpha One Generation One outdrive and he was a bit amazed by the inventory I had and my ability to configure using the Alpha One Generation One drive 1983 to 1991 on his 1963 wood boat that he was restoring. I specialize in the older parts. My father got me my first boat when I was 7 years old and trust me that was a long time ago! LOL
This is not a duplicate listing and I do not post any duplicate listings!
International Buyers
Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility. Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying. These customs/duty charges are different for all different countries and sometimes it is
not
applied. You should always consider they will be implemented so you are prepared. I ship everything internationally USPS postal service and I have no idea how it will arrive in your country. Please do NOT ask me to ship as gift or send a lower invoice amount, If you can’t afford your countries duty/customs fees please don’t buy from me. It is illegal for me to ship a paid for item as a gift and I will not lie for anyone and state a lower price.
Please leave us an all 5 star seller rating!  If for any reason you feel that you cannot leave us all 5’s please contact us and we will do our best to
help
you resolve any problem!