Kicker Motor Bending my Ezee Stear

[longbow]

I have a older  Merc. 9.9 on my boat my brother gave me.  Works flawlessly.  However I broke off the head of the lock down bolt.  I was going to use the motor locked in the straight position so had the tech who mounted the Garlick mount lock it down.  But then decided it worked better with the Ezee steer system so was going to loosen the bolt to back it off and the head snapped off.  What would be the best way to remove it?  Thanks for any  advice.  

 

PS  anybody know of any way to keep the engine from moving side to side with the Garlick mount.  The mount is solid enough but the engine as side to side play in it supposedly to compensate for boat and wave action or some such thing.  

Edited September 2, 2014 by longbow

[comptrip]

any suggestion will be great

 

 

 

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..¸.•°*â€ËœËœâ€*°•Thank you.•°*â€ËœËœâ€*°•.¸
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[Sk8man]

There should have been a yellow sticker on the EZ steer indicating that the tension had been factory adjusted and not to mess with it. It was set so that it would hold tension yet telescope when the trolling motor is raised.  I'm not sure about the Merc small motors but my OMC motor has a tension screw/bolt at the base of the motor head (top of lower unit shaft) which controls the lateral (side to side) movement of the motor head and lower unit shaft. It is normally adjusted such that it will freely swivel but under some tension so that you can steer properly with the motor if too tight it causes steering difficulties if too loose the motor won't hold position. Even with normal setting of the tension when you are underway full tilt you may see some lateral movement of the motor on the bracket especially when it is under rough conditions.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Sk8man

[longbow]

Yep mine was initially the same as the OMC but the tech tightened it up for me cause even with the ezee steer the rod would bend.  So now what I want to do is remove the damaged bolt and put a new one in.  thanks

[Xxx]

I used my kicker motor as a main when we went to Canada and found that I needed to loosen the tension screws up so the easy steer would track my main steering, I/O otherwise the bracket would either collaps or pull apart, I found that it needed to be all most floppy for the bracket to work properly. At first I had a rubber bungee, from one adjustment knobby to the other, then one day a older gent. at Henderson asked why I have a bungee cord on and he loosened up my kicker and it worked flawlessly ever since. I always turn the powerhead towards the I/O when traveling over the water with the steer arm on.

[Sk8man]

I should also mention that for the past ten years or so I haven't even needed the EZ Steer as I have a long shaft trolling motor (25 inch shaft) which approximates my 135 Opti Max when in lowered position. All I do is point the small motor ever so slightly toward the big motor and steer with the big one (hydraulic steering) This works for most situations other than high wind or roughness and then I just use the big motor trolling into the wind (seldom need to use) and the small one with the wind.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Sk8man

[Xxx]

I should also mention that for the past ten years or so I haven't even needed the EZ Steer as I have a long shaft trolling motor (25 inch shaft) which approximates my 135 Opti Max when in lowered position. All I do is point the small motor ever so slightly toward the big motor and steer with the big one (hydraulic steering) This works for most situations other than high wind or roughness and then I just use the big motor trolling into the wind (seldom need to use) and the small one with the wind.

Les, you tighten your kicker up so she's strait and use the main as the steering and this works without the arm? Cool I've got to give that a whirl!!!

[longbow]

Thanks fella's.  I'll ask Mackeral what I need to do to get the bolt out or at least loosened enough for the rest of fall fishing.  thanks

[holy mackerel]

You will have to drill it, and use an eze-out.

[Sk8man]

Worth a try Pap it works fine on mine anyway.

[Chas0218]

Les, you tighten your kicker up so she's strait and use the main as the steering and this works without the arm? Cool I've got to give that a whirl!!!

 

Tried this originally with mine but it wouldn't steer worth a crap. I ended up with the Panther Ez-Steer system it works pretty good.  I also made my own mounts that use band clamps to fasten the Ez-Steer to the engines. It looks just like the image attached except on my outboard it looks like 2 of the mounts on the kicker.

 

Edited September 3, 2014 by Chas0218

[Sk8man]

Pap here is what my setup looks like....you can see how far down the kicker shaft goes and it is also out quite aways from the transom

[Chas0218]

Pap here is what my setup looks like....you can see how far down the kicker shaft goes and it is also out quite aways from the transom

Same setup here.

[Xxx]

Pap here is what my setup looks like....you can see how far down the kicker shaft goes and it is also out quite aways from the transom

Yea I see know, I have the similar setup as my kicker is a 20" shaft and I made a bracket to mount it to my swim platform, both motors are almost the same depth when in the down position. I copied the swim platform bracket from someone's post earlier in the year, I will take a pic later. Thanks guys, I have my hands full right know, as my brother is dying from "cancer" he will pull through tonight so Hospice care says, I just received a call that my sister is at his house now, she flew up from Florida, I have a gut feeling once he see's Fern that will be the last straw, I need to be strong for him and his wife. I have been the king pin of our family as far as keeping everyone on the same page, you know how family can be at times  I went threw this with my DAD, and I don't want his wife to experience what I went through with dad. Sorry guys I just needed to vent!! Wish my brother well for me  I will definitely need to do some LakeO' fishing after this is all over. Dad's waiting for Faron and I know they will be trolling somewhere out there.       Thanks, PAP.

[Sk8man]

Pap you have a PM