bare wires showing in alpha 1

[87 caravelle]

after leaving the lake i got home and did a quick inspection of the outdrive and found bare wires and a few broken strands of wire as well. these wires run paralell w/ the water hose that is tuck up in the drive. i assume these wires control trim, am i right? how shall i replace these? 87 18' glasstream 3.0 merc.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: bare wires showing in alpha 1

i assume these wires control trim, am i right?

You have two sets of wires - one is for the trim limit switch and the other is for the gauge.

how shall i replace these?

Very carefully.

Seriously - it is a lot of work to replace them - most simply bypass them.

 

[Uraijit]

Re: bare wires showing in alpha 1

I've got the same issue as you. My limit switch wires are alright, but the trim gauge switches are TOAST. I was planning on going ahead and replacing them, but I decided to hold off until I need to replace a gimbal bellows, or a shift cable, and just do them all at the same time. You'll probably trash your shift cable by pulling it all apart, so unless you are planning on replacing that too, you might as well just hold off.

If you still wanna do it, here's a site with a good description of what's involved. You'll probably want a manual as well.

http://www.sterndrives.com/supplies/mdtips06.html

 

[paulrfrancisco]

Re: bare wires showing in alpha 1

Just curious, why cant the wires just be pulled through using the old one as the "pull string" or "snake" if you will... Seems like if you just cut the connectors off of the new ones and stripped some insulation and did a nice twisted butt splice, solder if necessary, then pull it right in.... rather than taking the whole gimble apart? Then once in, put on new ends to the wire, making sure the genders are correct.

 

[Uraijit]

Re: bare wires showing in alpha 1

Because the wires are sealed in with a plate that's bolted onto the transom shield. If the wires were just strung through the transom, it would leak.