Trim & Tilt stuck

[moodyshield]

I have a Johnson 115 outboard which I think is a 96 year. My problem is that the Trim & Tilt is not working. It stopped working about 6 months ago and it was almost full down. I was able to keep using the boat and it was fine to push it up on the plane etc.

I have mechanics look at it last week and they managed to raise the engine but have reported the motor needs replacing and it is cost prohibative. However when they were dropping the engin again it would not go down af far as before. It is completely stuck. They had hoped it would bleed down by itself but that has not happened. Now when I take the boat out i am restricted in speed and I cannot push it up onto the plane.

They said the manual relaease screw is completely welded and wont budge.

Has anyone got any options to get the engine in a more down position (only needs to be about 5 degrees lower? I had thought anout rigging some sort of rope pully system and gradually tightening it over time to see if it could budge it.

Thanks

 

[14ftgrumman]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Have you tried to empty the hydraulic resovior? Put a drain pan down and take out the fill screw, fluid should drain. Or crack open the hose connections at the cylinders. Should drop down.

Did your mechanic say the tilt motor is bad, or the powerhead? Rebuilding the tilt motor is similar to rebuilding a starter. Or used units show up on eBay, but you must make sure that itis comatable. There are also marine salvage dealers.

 

[boobie]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Did they try any heat around the manual release valve screw along with using an impact driver with the right bit in it to try and loosen it ?

 

[moodyshield]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Thanks for the replies.

I will try draining the fluid resevoir and see if it drops down at all. Yes they said the motor was bad and it would be very expensive to replace and I would be better buying a better second hand engine but that is cost prohibative for me.

I didnt ask exactly what they tried on the manual release valve. If I spay some WD40 and use brute force is that likely to help or an I wasting my time?

 

[boobie]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Try PB blaster rather than WD-40 and plenty of brute force. You may also want to get an opinion from another mechanic. Are you in a salt water area ? You could also give the mtr a few raps with a small hammer on the side and see what happens.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Gee, I would think an aftermarket PTT motor for that unit would be in the $150 range. How is that cost prohibitive? You could also try to have the motor rebuilt at a starter shop.

In the mean time, remove the PTT unit from the motor. It should require you drive out two pins and disconnect electrics.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Sorry to jump in, but what are some examples of aftermarket PTT? I've got problems (LINK) and $150 seems like a reasonable price to solve my problem.

Thanks

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Eric, If the PTT motor is bad, look on the webpages of the aftermarket marine stores and find a replacement. ARCO makes a lot of them. If you have pump troubles, see if there is a rebuild or seal kit for your PTT system. That would be a Johnnyrude part, avail at crowleymarine.com or other OEM parts places.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Thank you Chris!

 

[moodyshield]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Gee, I would think an aftermarket PTT motor for that unit would be in the $150 range. How is that cost prohibitive? You could also try to have the motor rebuilt at a starter shop.

In the mean time, remove the PTT unit from the motor. It should require you drive out two pins and disconnect electrics.

Excuse my ignorance but am I correct in thinking that when you say remove the PTT unit from the motor it would effectively make it a manual Tilt system? If so I would be happy to do this. Can you direct me to where I can get information on how to achieve this.

Thanks

 

[14ftgrumman]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Disconnect the wiring from the PTT motor. Remove anything that looks it belongs to the PTT. What you don't want to do is remove the bolts that hold the motor onto the transom.
You want to remove the PTT motor, the PTT cylinders and the bracketing on the motor that the cyls are attached to.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Moody, Removing the PTT unit will allow you to tilt the motor manually. However, there will be some parts of the manual tilt system that you do not have. You should have a manual lock to hold the motor up. But most manual tilt motors have some device to hold the motor down for reverse and for when you cut the throttle abruptly. If you remove the PTT, your motor will pop up when you apply reverse, or reduce speed.

 

[blimp]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

i replaced my t&t electric motor for around $100, pretty easy install too.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

i replaced my t&t electric motor for around $100, pretty easy install too.

Was that just the electric motor, no pump, seals, etc.? Also, where did you buy your parts?

Thanks

 

[blimp]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

i think i actually got it from amazon.com, i had a gift cert for there and found it on their site. It comes with a single rubber o-ring for sealing the motor to its mount. Hardest part was removing the t&t unit to access all the bolts on the motor, but even that was not bad. You may need to raise it up to get it out though.

here is one off iboats, not sure if its exactly right for your model:

http://www.iboats.com/mall/partfind...gd_poid=187614&gd_row=74&**********=254654860

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Trim & Tilt stuck

Thanks for that blimp... Would have never thought to look there, guess I better make sure to check when it comes time to pull the trigger. I actually think I have a bad pump... My trim motor works, but it does not move the outboard (much).