Bent Trim Rod help

[accentphoto]

I just bought this off of a guy damaged only because it was low use looking and it came from inland and never saw salt (unlike mine). He was trailering it from a Bass competition and jack knifed his boat off of the road. He mentioned that he used to use transom savers but a friend showed him how to do a better version using what he called 1" water pipe. Not sure if he was talking about PVC or what. Anyways ... the motor came flying off in the wreck and you see the part that I bought. The white think that looks like a crack is a spider web. The unit does in fact look very good except for the bent and broken parts.

So, how can I straighten these without doing more harm to the shaft as far as cuts and scratching goes? Any idea if this needs only a hammer? Does the shaft need to be pulled out and then banged? Any hints for a simple spanner tool that I can make or buy cheaply? I do have mine but it is in such bad shape from salt water that I never knew the shafts had some type of ball on the end. Mine are flat and rusty looking. I am thinking the large shaft with the connector ripped off should just be replaced with mine.

Any suggestions on how to flush something like this to make sure its clean while its off (his fluid tank got busted off and its been open but not in the weather)? Sorry for a lot of questions but I did learn a lot about the power of hydraulics and what you need to do to keep it working. All I know is that it needs clean fluid, a clean inside and lots of precision parts fitting together. Rough trim unit is mine.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

Looks like it could be rebuilt if you can get the parts. New cylinder rods' would be the main thing. As far as straightining forget it if they jam then your stuck. Seals will wear out sooner than too. The only hydrolics I work on though is in a 300 ton press, and sometimes aa backhoe or two. The unit you say is rough doesn't look to bad, clean up Paint if you think it needs it. Always a good Idea to flush off salt water after each use.

 

[accentphoto]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

I needed a adjustable gland nut wrench to properly take off the hydraulic seals but since I couldn't find one today a guy at a local boat repair shop helped me to punch off three out of the four hydraulic piston seals. We were able to get the two bent ones off but the donor unit was only able to have the smaller piston seal nut removed. The seal was bad on that one so I ended up using my Portaband to cut off the bent units piston seal nut and traded it for the one that went on the straight shaft.

Now I have to work on the large cylinder. I am debating on cutting the actual cylinder in half just to pull the shaft out and then switch the shaft only as my donor unit has bad seals on it as well.

Trying to keep the cost down, especially when the guy at the shop said he could get me an old used one for $450.00 ... I think I will keep trying to fix my old one.

 

[accentphoto]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

Well I cut the large cylinder into two parts with great success. After that I had to torch the lower 1/3 of the ram shaft to help break the thread lock that seemed to be on it. After a lot of banging with a punch and several attempts with the torch it finally gave in and I got it off. I made sure that I took of the large o-ring but did not realize there were two smaller ones inside that will need to get checked tomorrow. I was surprised at how long it stayed hot to touch. In the photo I put the actual piston assembly on a scrap metal pipe to cool since sitting on the table alone would have upset the assembly with the valves, springs and check balls. This way I don't have to figure out that assembly. Photos attached are showing the parts apart for reference if it helps anyone. I can't wait to assemble everything tomorrow and hopefully bleed it properly for a trial run. I couldn't believe the guys manual pressure relief screw was missing all of the threads. I thought it was because of some kind of model change as his had the filter on the port piston and mine didn't. The manual said that if your piston did not have the screen on it to not put it on your old one or to even use it if exchanging the piston. I forgot to add that the PO's units main cylinder seals were loose due to the ram cap being corroded.

 

[accentphoto]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

If it wasn't a tough enough repair, when I got it all together and started to do a "dry run" off of the boat (ATF fluid added of course), the motor would not activate or spark. The photos explain it all. But in the end... patience won. Now if I could only get the trims to go down as everything goes up quickly. I am going to give it overnight to settle down any foam I may have created in my rush to bleed the air from the system.

 

[accentphoto]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

I forgot to mention how cool it was to see the "motor overheating bimetal contact". What a well made motor. At least I know if it cuts off it could be because of my over using it or a stalled motor problem. I have not seen that safety part mentioned anywhere.

 

[merc850]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

Good work on that motor, many guys have posted PT issues and if they would take a look at their motor (slow operation/no operation etc.) they could solve the problem.

 

[accentphoto]

Re: Bent Trim Rod help

Thanks merc850. Some of the brushes were stuck and that commutator was black with oxidation or what ever. I almost ordered one and then I thought ... I should try to open it and see if it is something simple to fix. And it was. I wish more people would post good images or at least try to get images up on the forum for reference. I study other guys boat photos for ideas and comparison notes. I could put up a lot of images of some repairs but the limit of 4 images per reply makes it a bit taxing.