280 AQ lift intermittant operation

[PiratePast40]

Lift wouldn't raise the outdrive last time at the lake. Cleaned all connections and it started to work but then quit again. It's about half way up right now. Relays click for both up and down switch position. Checked voltage at the motor leads (2 wire motor), and no voltage with switch in either up or down position but relays still click. Not sure where to check now.

Update: Hooked up the motor leads a few hours later to see if it made a difference in the voltage reading. Of course, it works now so there is voltage there as expected. Ran it up and down a few times and it worked fine. Still scratching my head to determine what was going on. The fact that both relays were clicking, would seem to indicate that they are OK. Even if one was bad, wouldn't expect both to go out at the same time. Keeping my fingers crossed, just hoping it holds up. May be a sticking limit switch, but I really don't know how to check for that. They're too expensive to just throw a new one in there. If anyone has any idea, don't hesitate to throw them out.

There were some extra noises in there that I haven't noticed n the past. Might be a good time to take it apart this winter and put in new bearings and clean everything back up.

 

[captmello]

I had a similar issue a while back. it turned out that my limit switch was in fact sticking/malfunctioning as a result of grease being forced up out of the tilt housing in and around the limit switch when the vice rod was fully retracted. So I cleaned off the switch and removed some of the excess grease in the housing which seemed to take care of the issue. I should probably have replaced the switch but didn't for the same reason you haven't. Good Luck!

Does your tilt have the black box on top or is it the older style without the box?

 

[PiratePast40]

Thanks for the ideas Captain. Because of the new noise from the lift assembly, will take everything apart this winter to clean and inspect. Just found some bearings on ebay and have those on the way. Seems like parts for these are getting harder to find.

Mine is the newer style with the black box.