My old one was formed like your talking about. When I got the new one, a straight piece of rubber, my thoughts were like yours. I installed it, just set the tubing in the grooves in the nuts and tighten. The tubing compresses and seals like its supposed to, but seems to be kind of a half ass way of doing it. Mine are less than a year old and are already cracked, will see how long before they leak.

I'm going to "out" myself as a random Hillbilly...  I used the tapered rubber washer that is under your bathroom sink - the one that plugs into the bottom of the sink bowl itself. Not going to win any best of show awards but it works and fits real well.

 Don't even get me started on those stupid things !!   I spent hours fighting with that stupid rubber tube/grommet the other day  .   Couldn't get it to expand on both sides of the transom plate  .  Finally took it back off and stomped on it a few times (to show it who's the boss  ) , then it worked 

Ya I had a hell of a time when i replaced mine also Took it apart 2 or 3 times cause I didnt like the way it looked So 1 tube of clear silicone on, in, around, under, over, hell you name it I GOT ER DONE

Ya I had a hell of a time when i replaced mine also Took it apart 2 or 3 times cause I didnt like the way it looked So 1 tube of clear silicone on, in, around, under, over, hell you name it I GOT ER DONE

Yup sillycone ran thru my brain but it seemed, oh I dunno, maybe a little     but then again who would know? 

It seems like it might work for a few years.

 Come on guys, good old American home brewed engineering does not need to be hand full of sillycone smeared all over something  .


 I remember one year watching the 24hour race at Le Mans (on TV) and the Audi teem changed a broken trans axle in something like 5min, a little later the Cadillac teems fix for (i believe) a coolant leak was to literally smear a hand full of sillycone on the motor and go back out. 

OK I'm gonna jack my own thread but I love this story.  My buddy and his wife are on there way to Canada from SoCal to visit her family driving a 1969 Dodge Charger.  Somewhere in Utah the fan just comes apart and tears up the radiator something awful.  He whips out the JBWeld and patches it up and fills it with GRAPE SODA.  They got several hundred miles like that until they could find a new radiator in SLC.   Lucky thing Mopars run coooool.

Although we are sort of "stuck with it" (the design) we have never liked the way the OEM steer tube bushing works , most times that little rubber tube can effectivly be "rolled , hour glass shape" on either side of the transom adaptor with the special nuts , if replaced with just about anything else or overtightened , the steering shaft tends to bind as the tiller requires a small amount of side to side movement to function properly. Someday when my genius kid has time away from the grindstone maybe he can "build a better moustrap" When I set him on improving the OE cable seal he did good ! Tom

JBP improved Berk cable seal 

Come on guys, good old American home brewed engineering does not need to be hand full of sillycone smeared all over something  .

I remember one year watching the 24hour race at Le Mans (on TV) and the Audi teem changed a broken trans axle in something like 5min, a little later the Cadillac teems fix for (i believe) a coolant leak was to literally smear a hand full of sillycone on the motor and go back out. 

i saw that race too!  the Audi team was fricken unbelievable!