Removing T/T on a '95 Yamaha 75HP

Need some help getting my t/t unit off. I had a run in with a stump that caused the threads on the top of my tilt cylinder to strip out on both the male and female portions, so I've either got to replace the tilt cylinder or replace the entire T/T unit.

Questions:
- how do you get the t/t unit out? I've got the 6 bolts out that hold the t/t unit to the mounting brackets but there is not enough room between the brackets to get it out. Do I have to remove the entire engine from the boat to get the t/t unit out or is there a trick?


- Long term solution- should I replace the tilt cylinder or look at getting an entire new t/t unit? New cylinder from yahama will run $500, and it looks like I could get an entire new t/t unit from CMC that would also function as a jackplate fro about $600. Any thoughts from the experts?

Re: Removing T/T on a '95 Yamaha 75HP

OK, tried unbolting the pump and the fluid tank from the top of the unit, but could only reach 2 of 3 bolts on each of those to get them out. Maybe with a special tool?

Went ahead and unbolted the engine bracket and tilted the engine forward, was able to get the last bolts off of the pump unit and fluid tank, and once those were off, the T/T unit came out sideways with out too many problems.

What a pain. Anybody here care to explain why Yamaha didn't design that thing to come straight off the back of the boat?


Final question- should I replace the tilt cylinder and put everything back together, or should I get an entire new unit?