1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues-resolved, bad solenoid

[Mahoney]

I have been doing a lot of searching and have not found anything difinitive in solving the tilt problem for those old stringer electric shift drives.

I can't read the serial form my drive, but it is a 1974 OMC high profile stringer, electric shift without the true course steering. It shift and runs beautifully.

I have changed the oil in the tilt gear assembly and greased the tilt quadrant. I also visually checked the tilt motor connetion, and it actualy looks like the tilt motor might have been replaced somewhat recently.

Periodiacally, maybe 40% of the time, upon hitting the tilt switch, either from the full up or full down, it clicks eveytime but no motor sound and no tilting. The odd thing is just repeating this over and over eventually gets it moving, I have not been able to isiolate anything I am doing to make it work from the last unsuccesfull attempt to the succesful one!

It just seems to work sometimes and not others. I would have a much easier time if it was a working or not working problem, but the ittermitant thing really confuses me.

One more thing, when it does start to work, I usually have no problem moving it up and down, its just after it has sat in a full up or down position for any length of time.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Check all the connections on the trim solenoids, make sure they are clean and tight. When the system fails to operate you need to check for voltage and ground feed to the trim motor. The problem could be faulty solenoids, bad connections, or a faulty motor. The control switch (at the helm) is working if it clicks when you try to operate the trim.

 

[lilmandavis]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

are there limit switches on those?

 

[Mahoney]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

No limit switches that I know of or have heard of going through the manual. I did finally find some post about checking the sylinoids, but it still gets me that it works sometimes and not others after doing nothing. Would a slightly faulty connection possibly do this?

Seems to be working fine when I went out quick to check, but I would bet a case of beer its gonna take a good 3-4 minutes of dorking around with it tomorrow after getting back to the ramp to get it up to tow.

 

[Mahoney]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

oh, I forgot to mention, I have not checked the voltage yet to the sylinoids, but notice that the voltage and ammeter do drop when engaging the switch.

 

[Boatist]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

To start with if your having problems with the tilt then it has nothing to do with the trim. They are two different systems.
It could be one of the tilt solenoids or the tilt motor but I bet it is a mechanical problem. I had the same problem on my boat many years ago. When I hit the up switch it would click and maybe move 1 inch. after several trys it would raise.

You can isolate to electrical or mechanical it you remove the 3 bolts the hold the 1/4 big gear. Then you can manually lift and lower the out drive and feel if it binding up or not.

My problem was the pivots pins where the outdrive pivots had old grease, more like glue. I always greased the pivots pins twice a year from the zert fitting but the grease never got to the back side.

Wife and I pulled the outdrive cleaned the old grease out and re greased with OMC triple guard grease. Since then it will fully raise in a count of 3 and fully drop with a 1/4 second shot in the down direction.

Out drive is too heavy to man handle so we lowered the front of the trailer and blocked up under the drive in the full down position. Raised the front of the trailer until the weight of the out drive was on the blocks. Removed the rubber blocks just like you do to grease but then took off the two screws that hold the piviot pin cap on the pivot pins. Manually tilted the pivot pins away from the boat just enough to pull the sleaves off and clean old grease out, apply new grease and put greased sleves back on. Note how you take the sleaves off as they can be put on wrong. I held the out drive while the wife cleaned and greased. WD40 was a big help in getting old grease off. Then wiped clean and greased pins and sleves with OMC triple guard grease. Put it back together and it worked better than new.

Another comon problem is the tilt motor get water in it. On boat that stay in the water if the tilt clutch gets water in it the water can go up the worm shaft and get into the motor. Clutch should have motor oil in it but some fill with grease in hopes of stopping water from getting to the motor. Mine did have some water in it when I checked it. I pulled the clutch pack replaced both seals behind the small gear and a new O Ring seal for the clutch pack cover.
I also took the clutch pack apart while I had it out and cleaned it all out. When putting back together I was unable to get the snap ring back on. I used a vice on one side to squeese pack together and vice grips on the other side but still could not get squeesed tight enough to get the snap ring back on. Finally I removed one metal disk and one fiber disk so I could get the snap ring back on. I wish I had removed another set as clutch still much tighter than I like. Anway with new drive shaft seals, new O Ring cover seal and new fill and drain plug seals it never had water in it again and it works perfect.

On mine after the clutch it still failed until and cleaned and regreased the pivot pins.

Good Luck and please come back and report what fixes yours.

 

[KaGee]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

oh, I forgot to mention, I have not checked the voltage yet to the sylinoids, but notice that the voltage and ammeter do drop when engaging the switch.

That might be an indicater of a motor going south.

You say it does it tilting down also. There are two solenoids involved in the circuit, one for UP and one for DOWN. With your problem being both ways, it points to either a bad ground connection or motor. The meter drop could be either, but your motor may need serviced or replaced. Check the plug on the motor too.

 

[Mahoney]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Thanks for the help guys, Boatist , yours was one of the posts I did come across yesterday.

Refreshing my brain a bit, I don't recall having the problem with the drive going down, at least not nearly as much as going up.

I have had the drive off repeatedly to clean and inspect impellors, seals, etc, and made sure the pivots are nice and clean and greased well, as well as the *** quadrant.

I do notice when the drive is anywhere but the full down position, that I can manhandle the drive a little against the gear to show it has a bit of movement and not binding, also the clutch in the gear is holding very well and not slipping when I do this.

I will be checking the electrical connections next time this acts up and as a last resort, start pulling the motor, arg. It’s sitting back there in a great spot huh??

I did read on a post somewhere that those original tilt quadrants are responsible for binding in the full up and down position and to get a new one. They gave a part number for the problem one, which I have but no part number for the improved one. I am guessing the angle at the end of the new one isn’t so flat resulting in binding.

Is anyone familiar with that suggestion/issue?

 

[KaGee]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Quadrants are not an issue. Anything is possible, but that would be a real rarity.

 

[mattsmall1972]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

I had an issue with a quadrant recently that cracked between two of the teeth - they were further apart than normal and had problems going up, but with a little coaxing, would operate more or less normally. Inspect the quadrant, at the minimum.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

The quadrent is a slim possibility, but assuming you have proper voltage it is most likely the motor or it's wiring connections. I totaly agree they're a pain in the transom to get at! :| When tilted all the way up (or down) check volts and amps when you try to tilt it against the stop. You should have about 11VDC and about 120 amps. Only power against the stop for 1-2 seconds at a time and wait a bit between tries, otherwise you'll overheat the motor and open the internal breaker. It should reset after the motor cools, but it takes a while.

Check that the connector plug contacts are clean and the plug is in all the way into the socket. Check the ground as well. If all is good there you may have got water in the motor (mine was a ball of rust inside when I got it) and it is starting to corrode inside. Might be worn or corroded bearings, could be a worn/sticky brush or burnt commutator as well.

And since you have to pull the motor to check those, look real good at the hammer blow coupling. Could have a piece broken that is binding up. Mine was in pretty tough shape and think it would have broke on the first try. If it looks suspect at all, or you think it is the original, replace it now!

Good luck, and let us know what you find!
Colin

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Mine was doing exactly what is decribed.
I did all the fixing of the electrical and it helped a lot but resulted in a broken tilt shaft. The two little pieces broke in the hammerblow coupling.

For mine the solution was to put TWO gaskets under the tilt clutch cover. The double thickness spaced the cover out enough and took a bunch of drag off the big brass gear. Now it swings up like crazy..... whhrrrrrzoooomclunk! almost as fast as down!

I notice the parts book calls those gaskets "shims"! and there's an o-ring to do the sealing already, so it makes sense they are there to adjust drag on the gear.

I would really look at this for a 120 amp draw, Colin..that seems wildly high for the wires which look lik 10 or 12 gage...

 

[Mahoney]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Thanks a lot guys! I have a lot of things to check out. Boy do I hope cleaning the grounds and connectors helps it out. I really am not looking forward to pulling the motor to check the hammer coupling, which I have read about. I don't at this time have any reason to believe that water got in there, I pulled the gear cover off on the intermediate to check things out, and there was no water at all in there and all the gears looked great.

Good tip on letting it wait a bit before tries. this does seem to be some part of it working successfully. I will try it quick 3-5 times then go back and poke around, get back up and wirrrrrrr. Go figure.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

hystat: I thought 120 was high too, but that is what my manual states! This is on a stall-torque test maxing the motor out against a stop. My book doeesn't give a reading for while the leg is in travel, but that should give you a max. number to compare to.

Mahoney: Just because there was no water in there doesn't mean there's not a leak in the motor casing/endcap seals. Becaust they sit down in the bilge they tend to get wet alot and even a little seeping into the motor is bad ju-ju. :$

 

[Boatist]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

I can tell you mine is more like 20 or 30 amps. Since the power all go thru a 50 amp fuse near the starter no way it can be 120 amps.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Just read through my manual again (Glenns OMC 64-75)
My remembery is a little off.:$

Those readings are with the motor removed & in a vice. Inch-pound torque wrench attached to shaft & held fixed.

"The voltmeter reading should be approximately 11VDC and the ammeter should show about 120 amps. The stall-torque must not be less than 27 in-lbs."

Direct quote from book. If anyone has a factory OMC manual I'd love to hear what it says. I think I have the only old OMC manual in town so I have not been able to cross check any of the info in it, but everything I have done has been according to it and everything's worked out great so far.

 

[KaGee]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

I can tell you mine is more like 20 or 30 amps. Since the power all go thru a 50 amp fuse near the starter no way it can be 120 amps.

That would be correct... 120 amp draw would pop the fuse pronto!.

 

[Boatist]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

My 1980 factory manual does show motor hooked up stright to a battery thru a amp meter.

Gives a Stalled torque test with a 12 volt battery.
amperes 120 amps with solenoid.
Minimum Torque inch pounds of 27.
approximate Voltage 11 volts.

It also shows all the current going thru a 50 amp fuse.
A 50 amp fuse with 120 amps thru it is called a flash blub.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Thanks for the confirmation Boatist. I was starting to wonder if I had a misprint or something. So if the motor will draw 120 amps, why doesn't it pop the fuse all the time? Is it a special kind of slow-blow fuse maybe? What should the amps read with the motor installed and the leg in travel? This has got me wondering now!

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

Re: 1974 OMC Stringer Tilt Issues

I've never metered it, but judging by the spark when you jumper to it... I'd say about 35A raising.... maybe 15A lowering