Trying to solve a "trim up" dilemma...

[rhillman75]

Before I go buying any new senders I thought I would ask this first. I just did my complete bellows and gimbal bearing job about 2 weeks ago without any issue, except, my trim up sender may and may not be working. My dash guage is reading full trim up constantly, whether the drive is down, up, or in trailer position. I know the port side seems to work fine because I can rotate it on the ring and it allows me to adjust the drive up for trailering. The starboard side seems to not function at all. I set both senders with the notch on the plastic gear with the notch on the housing as the manual calls for, but I have no correct display at the guage. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I am reading in the manual it states to set the trim up sender with notches together and drive in full down, then rotate the sender until the guage lines up. I can turn the sender back and forth and nothing changes on the guage. Any thoughts?

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Trying to solve a "trim up" dilemma...

Any thoughts?

Yes. First off you do not adjust the port (trim limit) switch for trailering, you have a "trailer" function for that. The trim limit switch should be adjusted to limit the maximum trim up of the outdrive when you are underway. It should be adjusted to a center to center distance of the trim ram bolts of 21 3/4 inches for a Alpha I or 20 3/4 for a gen II. As for the the indicator switch, if you have the original you may have a wire wound potentiometer and contact arm, in that case you may be able to disassemble it and clean it to get it to work. good luck.

 

[rhillman75]

Re: Trying to solve a "trim up" dilemma...

My fault for being a little deceptive in my thread. I actually set the "trailer" position to the 20-3/4" setting by rotating the port sender. So... I think I did it right, but who knows. Its a combination of 1996 parts, a recent rebuild, and/or "did I screw it up or not?" The commander still lets you trim up and down, but the needle is past the "up" mark on the guage an doesn't move regardless of trimming up or down.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Trying to solve a "trim up" dilemma...

OK, sounds right on the trim. With a 96 you may have the "old style" trim indicator. It is simply resistance wire wound around a core. There is a copper (brass?) contact arm that rides on the wires, and the gauge reads the position by the resistance. If you take it off and turn it over you should see a couple of screws that hold it together. If you take it apart you might be able to clean and adjust the contact to get it to work. On mine the wire was broken, so I was screwed. I replaced mine and it worked for about 2 weeks then quit, so I don't bother with it anymore. Good luck.