Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

[HeloMech]

Yesterday I had to replace the front roller on the trailer. That turned into cutting off a tab and welding it over to fit the new roller and shaft. I walked around to the other side of the trailer and noticed that the outdrive was down... but I had left it up. I pulled up the back corner and side of the cover to hook up the battery and hit the trim button. My neighbor was out back and said it wasn't moving. hm, interesting. I hit it again and he said it was leaking. Great...

I went back and saw a milky fluid dripping from the starboard trim piston. I went up and hit the switch again to get more fluid to drip so I could see where it was. Definitely from underside of the piston. I get down and look at the underside. Nice... there's about a 5-6" long crack where it's split. Looking at the fluid, it appears that there's water in the hydraulic fluid. Guessing that the water froze inside the piston and split the case. Unreal!!! Everything was ready to hit the lake in two weeks. Now I have to wait to pick up a set of replacements.

I've seen several matched sets on fleabay with warranty on them. They're about $200 a pair. I'll have to pull the old set off, purge the fluid, check the pump resevoir and fittings to see if I can figure out how water got in there in the first place.

I'll head outside in a bit and take a pic of the split case and post it up when I get done.

This boat is "new to me" so I've never had it in the water. Yay Boats! lol

 

[HeloMech]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

 

[AZSenza]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

It looks like a previous repair in the area (JB Weld or something) where the trim in/down line goes under the actuator in front?

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

The power of water is strong. Freezing in CA, you must be in the wrong part.

Yay boats.

 

[HeloMech]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

Not sure about whether or not there was a previous repair there. I don't really know what these things are SUPPOSED to look like. It's my first boat.

Is there a way to pull both of these pistons off and just lift/prop the outdrive up? I can't back it down into my garage with it down like it is currently.

Yeah... freezing in CA. I'm up in the mountains at 6200 feet. Ya know, above the smog!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

First please re-size your pictures to 640 x 480.....

If you live in a freezing area you should store the outdrive in the down position. This also keeps the tim pistons completely compressed and most of the fluid is out of them. You obviously had water infiltration into the fluid and the water froze.

I would spend some significant effort purging the lines before you put everything back together.

 

[HeloMech]

Re: Power Trim XD cylinder vs. ice....

Bob ~ I've tried to resize the pics. When I look at them in photobucket, they're sized down below the 640x480, etc. I've cleared the cookies here and still they show up as the original large size. Are they smaller at your end?

Thanks for the tip on storing the boat with the outdrive down during the winter.

As for purging the system, that's a definite! I'll have both cylinders off, the stainless lines off and will drain the pump and flush it out with new fluid.