Trim cylinder mounts broke

[ml8163]

Well, I made a rookie mistake a couple of weeks ago and forgot to raise tilt the drive when I pulled out of the water. This of course resulted in the skeg of the outdrive draging up the ramp about 15-20 feet before I noticed...

I guess it was only a matter of time... The other day when I was on the lake, I heard a thump-thump sound and I noticed that the trim wasn't working. When I pulled the boat out of the water, both trim cylinders where hanging and and where disconnected from the mounts on the drive shaft housing, because the mounts had failed. There are huge chucks of aluminum missing and all of the mounting h/w guts where gone.

Luckily I was able to rig a steel cable to hold the drive off the ground, so I could trailer the boat home. That was lots of fun...

My question is, can the trim cylinder mounts be fixed by a weld shop of some sorts? Or, do I have to replace the upper drive housing?

Let me know if you need to see pics of the actual damage.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Oh yea, forgot to mention that it is a 1987 Alpha 1 drive.

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Sorry guys, I'm not with it today... I forgot to include that my theory on what caused the cylinder mounts to fail, is that when I forgot to raise the drive and pulled the boat out of the water all of the boat weight was put on the mounts for the trim cylinders on the upper unit. This in turn caused stress fractures and resulted in the mounts failing.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

There are huge chucks of aluminum missing and all of the mounting h/w guts where gone.

Ayuh,....

If you had All the Pieces,... There's a remote Chance that a Weldor could fit it back together.....
I'd probably Try it Myself....

But,...
I see a New or used Housing in your near future.....

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Well I think if the round "tabs" where the cylinders mount on the drive are completly broken off I would want to replace the entire upper case.

It is very possibe that when they broke off they have now opend the case to air and will allow water to run inside the drive where water should never be and allow it to mix with gear lube.

I think for the amout of work it is going to be you may as well replace the upper with a new one. Id go with an SEI upper for the alpha drive. Its going to cost a lot less then a genuine Merc or maby you can find a used one on ebay for less. Oh and you may get lucky and find a complete drive..Sounds like you need a skeg as well right? Maby an insurance claim could help replace the drive?

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Here are some pics. Hope these help...

From a glance and rubbing my finger inside the mount hole, I don't see or feel any cracks into the internals. Good idea Bayliner - Thanks.

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Well, from the pics...It doesnt look all that bad...When I say that I mean I think a good welder / marine machanic could possible rebuild that housing with some tiem and work. It looks like the rest of it is still intact pretty well.

You will obviosly need all new hardware that holds those cyliners in place but since there off thats one less thing you need to remove to pull the drive and take to a shop. Maby even a machine shop could do that. Either way the price of a new upper may ba about the same as the repair only thing thats going to suck is that you wil lhave to pull all the gearing out of your upper to put in a new case if you go that route. Thats why maby ebay could work.....as they say (B)reak (O)ut (A)nother (T)housand.


NOTE: on second look at the pic I wounder why the trim let go though....It would seem to me that if the hardware was still all in place it would lift and lower the drive as the pin would still have been through the drive and bolted at each trim cyliners. I think something came loose and then as you described the weight of the boat stress cracked that drive. Im guessing

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

While I certainly see the damage... I don't see how that caused the pin fall out. It appears the nut came off the end and the bushings and pin subsequently fell off. That appears "fixable" to me.

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Interesting... You know, I just got the boat back from the shop last week to have the gimble bearing replaced (which requires the drive to be pulled). This incident occured only the second time having the boat out, since the bearing was replaced. I wonder if the mechanic didn't tighten the bolts down tight enough and they worked there way loose? Or, maybe they where tight and due to the stress cracks, the mount holes failed, making the bolts no longer tight and spinning loose? What do you think?

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Well, I don't think they tightened it too tight... but too loose? Very possible.

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Yea its really hard to say what happened other then what you did when you dragged the boat up on the trailer with the drive down.

I think this is just going to be an expensive lesson for next time.

 

[subcrx]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

i would look into getting a lower unit case, though I have seen some independent welders do some amazing jobs. depends on you wallet

 

[fixb52s]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

With the cracks I see in the housing, I wold not attempt a weld repair. It might look good on the surface, but could fail due to some other hidden damage the welder cannot get to.

A new upper drive housing would be the way to go, or at least a different housing. Too bad you are in TN because I have a good 86 Alpha 1 housing sitting in my garage.​

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Thanks for your input guys. I think I'm lgoing to have a local marine mechanic check it out.

fixb52s - Would you be willing to sell/ship your drive?

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Hmm... just from dragging on the pavement?

I had less damage to my outdrive when my boat hopped off the trailer at 45 mph, snapped the skeg, and dragged for 60 feet.

I think it looks like a weak casting.

If I were you (and I sorta am) I'd look long term at replacing the casing and possibly the whole lower end... replacing just the casing would cost $$ since the gears would have to be re-shimmed I think.

I personally have a tig welder and I'm fixing my problem short term with some welding work.. if the repair fails (unlikely) then my trim and reverse won't work until I fix it again. That area of the casing is pretty thick, likely there are no holes into gear oil.

Long term I'm replacing the whole outdrive with an SEI.

Erik

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Ayuh,....

With that little bit of Damage,....

I'd throw it back together with a new pin,+ bushings,......
Then Go Boating.......

 

[cannonfodder]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Ayuh,....

With that little bit of Damage,....

I'd throw it back together with a new pin,+ bushings,......
Then Go Boating.......

Me too!!

 

[ml8163]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Hey Guys,

I've been tied up and just now been able to take the boat to a local mechanic. He had the same advice as Bondo, only he said that I should use some JB Weld to fix the tear out. He sold be the rod, bushings etc. and I think I will be good to go. I do think a better fix would be to replace the upper housing. I've received a couple of PMs from some of you (thanks BTW) who may have a replacement they could sell me. I've reached out the those folks and hope to hear replies.

 

[paulrfrancisco]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

Frankly, I dont see how the pin bushings, nuts and washers gould have possably come out base on the damage I see in the pics. The nuts must have been finger tight after the previous work and as a result the port nut came off and the pin worked out to the starboard, and when nothing but the threads were supporting the drive, the shoulder (or ear if you will) of the drive failed. I dont see anyother way for the trim cyls to be dangling loose....

Probably, a goo aluminum welder can build it back up without removing and draining the oil... IMHO

 

[paulrfrancisco]

Re: Trim cylinder mounts broke

I think something came loose and then as you described the weight of the boat stress cracked that drive. Im guessing

I dont think scraping it on the ramp caused the problem. Most likely, when this happend, he for sure would have noticed the trim cyl pin not installed correctly, but most likely missed the fact that the nuts werer not tight. Later, when he used it next time, is when the failure occured, after the nuts fell off