The bushings are brand new and I noticed after I replaced them that I could grab the whole nozzle and move it up and down I was wondering if trailering over rough ass roads and that assembly jiggling around a little if it wasn't going to kill my new bushings. As far ad driving the boat and can't notice anything.
The whole thing is loose and jiggling around? It should fit pretty snug against the o-ring in the ball socket to maintain a seal. If it just falls about, it is probably not sealing and you would see water spraying.
The pins should fit pretty tight and as stated above, it is important to maintain a proper crush on the o-ring so the ball socket doesn’t leak. The pin bores clearances can open up from wear, from sand blasting/powder coating, or from abrasives in the water essentially being extrude honed through the entire pump.
If it is to the point where it bothers you, there are some options to fix it. The correct way to fix it would be to set it up in a mill, indicated on both pin bores, and bore or ream through both holes at the same time so that both bores remain concentric. Then press in bushings of your choice. This is a fairly time consuming setup and would really only be worth it if you had a lot of money tied up in your droop, powder coating etc. because the cost of machine time would be around the price of a new droop.
Another option would be to make new pins with an oversized shoulder. Anyone with a little lathe and drill press should be able to make these. I would drill and tap the outside to facilitate removal via threading in a bolt to pull the pins for disassembly.
As stated above, if you don’t have a water show going on and your steering is safe, run it as is and plan for a droop upgrade in the future. By the way, you never mentioned what droop you have. Is it anything special?
Good luck,
Joe
