Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

No limit switches. You need to listen when raising and let off the switch when it stops. Going down you'll want to tap the switch in little bursts so the drive doesn't slam against the stops. If you let it slam you can easily bind up the quadrant gear, break the hammer blow coupler on the worm shaft, break the worm shaft or do other expensive damage.

Thank you!

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

And while I'm thinking about it, I have one more question. The PO told me that he was always told it was absolutely critical to only raise and lower the outdrive when it was centered, not turned at all in either direction or some (unspecified gears) would be damaged. Does anyone know of any truth to this?? I personally don't see how this would happen as it uses ball gears to connect from motor to drive through the transom, and as far as I can tell those should be the only gears involved in the raising or lowering of the drive. But as I said earlier, I haven't really gotten into any diagrams or had a chance to study the manuals yet. I hate to keep asking questions on a subject that most become sour over, but I don't wanna chance ruining the old antique, extinct, parts NLA, obsolete drive haha!

 

[superbenk]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

And while I'm thinking about it, I have one more question. The PO told me that he was always told it was absolutely critical to only raise and lower the outdrive when it was centered, not turned at all in either direction or some (unspecified gears) would be damaged. Does anyone know of any truth to this?? I personally don't see how this would happen as it uses ball gears to connect from motor to drive through the transom, and as far as I can tell those should be the only gears involved in the raising or lowering of the drive. But as I said earlier, I haven't really gotten into any diagrams or had a chance to study the manuals yet. I hate to keep asking questions on a subject that most become sour over, but I don't wanna chance ruining the old antique, extinct, parts NLA, obsolete drive haha!

He may have been referring to the Tru-Course steering gear which is starboard of the ball gears & just above them. That being said, the upper gear case where the Tru-Course gears mate does not turn, so it really shouldn't be a problem. What you will have a problem with if your raise your drive with it turned is that it'll bind on the trunions (pivots) which could cause some problems & potential damage. It rides best if centered when raised & you'll have the most lift that way as well, so it's not bad advice to follow in general.

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Thanks Ben, I really appreciate the couple of answers you've given me this morning.

 

[full stringer]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

dude before u get carried away with all the negative remarks unplug the power to the tilt motor and check to see if the contacts are corroded if so clean and retry then if that fails try connecting jumper wires directly to a fully charged 12 volt battery post on the connector green one is up and blue is down i believe if this solves the problem and it starts to work clean solonoid conections and the harness connection itself should work now those tilt motors new last for 20 years if there is no water intruision through the worm gear shaft via the tilt clutch housing check the fluid there as well maybe its empty and for gods sake grease those pivot trunions on the upper unit both sides

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

dude before u get carried away with all the negative remarks

My negative remarks are sarcasm. Hard to interpret through text, I know. Don't know if you read the whole thread or not, but I don't think negatively of OMC and its outdrives.

Anyway, I think the key to the tilt issue is going to be taking apart, cleaning, and re-greasing all the components to the gear drive assembly. Cause electrically I think its fine. It does work. Just according to the PO, it sometimes will pop a fuse when trying to tilt up. Which says to me it probably is binding somewhere. Or the tilt motor is on its way out. I haven't experienced its issue yet, but also haven't tilted it up and down more than a few times yet.

 

[arield]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

WOW!! thought the thread was dead, but looks like it kept on going. JeepZ. its incredible that we are talking about the same boat that i back out off, its could off been a nearly perfect second boat for us. but the tilt was my issue. but if you can fix it. awesome!! and btw sorry for your mishap while taking it home. see ya at the lake bud.. specially northern res. and if you see a guy bbqing on a party barg, come over. i will hand you a plate.

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

WOW!! thought the thread was dead, but looks like it kept on going. JeepZ. its incredible that we are talking about the same boat that i back out off, its could off been a nearly perfect second boat for us. but the tilt was my issue. but if you can fix it. awesome!! and btw sorry for your mishap while taking it home. see ya at the lake bud.. specially northern res. and if you see a guy bbqing on a party barg, come over. i will hand you a plate.

Whats even more incredible, is that you came to my house to look at the boat I was selling and had mentioned the searay to me while you were there. I had already read your thread and had even already purchased the boat by the time you were looking at mine. Small world isn't it?! But thanks for the apology with the mishap. The PO refunded me the amount it cost to repair the axle, so it all worked out in the end. Should have it on the lake this coming week! Very excited!

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Just wanted to give a little update: Got the trailer axle all fixed and back in. While replacing the rest of the bearings, found another spindle that had been replaced on the front axle, so clearly something like that had happened before. But anyway, I'm pretty sure I found the problem the PO was having with the tilt. This boat has 2 batteries wired to an isolator. The original wire from the alternator was taken off and not wired to the isolator. They had just used another battery cable instead. However, they left that original wire still hooked up to the battery and didn't tape it or cut it or anything. It was lying loose on top of the engine and it was still hot! I think what was happening is sometimes when the PO would operate the tilt, it would create enough vibration back there to have that wire short out on the engine and pop that 50 amp fuse!! I have taped that wire up and used the tilt over 10 times up and down now, and not one single issue with it. Also got the boat out on the water for the first time yesterday and everything worked perfect! I couldn't believe not one single issue. The OMC drive and 305 engine run beautifully and so smooth! No leaks, no water coming from anywhere. It was great!! I gotta say, I was worried after reading all the trash talk, but it was a huge weight off my shoulders to have it all come together and work great!

And yes, the boat is a little dirty, we had a huge wind storm blow through that shook everything off the tree the boat sits by in my driveway. And for some reason it is flipping the picture upside down when it uploads...I don't know how to fix it!

I don't know how to fix it!

I do . . .

 

[superbenk]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Nice work & congrats!! It's a great feeling when it all comes together & you actually get out on the water!

 

[jeepzj94]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Nice work & congrats!! It's a great feeling when it all comes together & you actually get out on the water!

Thanks man, and yep, it does feel great!!

 

[THE BEEF]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Hey, Im jumping in late but I know about lowering the stringer in the water, Bump it down, till it stops! I goofed last year and it got stuck in the down position, oh well over the side unbolt the quad gear bump the switch and got it free. Oh ya I dropped the gear, found it in the mud. All is well
Beef

 

[k.thed]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

Well after reading through this entire thread, I've got a bit of a sick feeling. I thought I had also gotten a steal of a deal on a 1976 Mark Twain 18' Cruiseaire with the OMC 302 and 800 Stringer outdrive. After reading this, it looks like I may have messed up... Anyways...

When I went and looked at it with a good friend of mine, the tilt operated down, but would barely raise up. The PO told me that for some reason it needed some assistance to lift. So you just kind of helped it up into place and it rode in the complete upright position 80 miles home and remained there. Thinking it was some silly issue we could work out, we got it home and started messing with it. Turns out, the drive would essentially slam downward when you hit the down on the tilt switch. Then when you try to raise it back up, all we heard were the solenoids clicking. (Not to mention, we found the down solenoid was bad, so we replaced it since it would work intermittedly.) So we started reading... Figured we had better check the clutch pack. Pulled the cover, and.... WOW. Completely dry and rusted beyond belief. Disassembled the clutch pack and thoroughly cleaned every piece of it. Soaked the clutch plates in oil for 15 minutes, etc., etc. Reassembled it all and put it back together. Now, with the clutch pack re-done and the new down solenoid, the outdrive lowers as it should. Nice, quiet, smooth, and quick. But it still won't raise. It tries, but still needs help. The up solenoid has tested good, so we're assuming it must be the trim motor. Anyone have any other suggestions on this?

Also, this boat has two switches on the dash. A 'trim' switch, and a 'tilt' switch. The trim switch appears to do nothing. When you click it up or down, it engages solenoids but nothing happens? The tilt switch does the actual movement of the outdrive I guess. I really have no idea the purpose behind the trim switch. I've downloaded numerous documents with information about this engine/outdrive but haven't really found any answers. The engine also has what looks to be a hydraulic pump on the front right corner with steel lins coming out and running to either side of the engine and enter what appear to be motor mounts. Solenoids connect to this pump and they click when you hit the trim, but I can not figure out the purpose of this? The pump does not engage, granted the boat hasn't been running while we've been tinkering with it. I assume it's electric since it's connected to the two solenoids on the front of the engine. Does this engine outdrive combo utilize a tilt?

Any input would be greatly appreciated guys.

 

[superbenk]

Re: Omc stern drive / TILT ISSUE

I'd make sure your connections to the tilt motor are all clean & tight. Is your battery FULLY charged & strong? The tilt mechanism takes a lot of juice!

The Stringer trims by tilting the entire engine & out drive as a single unit. The motor mounts are hydraulic pistons that should go up & down with the trim switch engaged. Sounds like yours aren't working for some reason. Perhaps more electrical connection issues or a bad pump motor. I'd pull the pump & tilit motors and check their condition & try to run them directly off the battery on a bench. They should torque pretty hard and try to roll away (at least the tilt motor).

The trim mechanism is called SelecTrim & it was optional. You have it. You never want to use the tilt (raising & lowering the out drive only) for trim as it'll chew up the ball gears. These drives were intended to only be run with the drive fully down at all times. The tilt mechanism is for trailering the boat or storage.

Also, k.thed, this should have been a new thread, not tacked on to someone else's very old thread.