1972 80HP Mercury - Manual to Hydraulic conversion issue

[cornersoyo]

Hello,

Project boat, motor came with an old hydraulic kit in a box so I installed it. Works great! But notice that with this installed the motor has no hold for reverse besides the adjustable lock bar that's already there (which I presume shouldn't be with hydraulics installed), so for now I'm leaving the bar, and when raising or lowering the motor, I need to put the throttle in forward to raise the levers - so it can lock onto (or release from) the bar. Problem is, if someone else is using this boat and doesn't know it, they could easily lower it without throttle in forward, and the motor would then hit the bar vs. locking over it - so not flush with the transom and of course not locked for reverse. Attempting to raise it in neutral is a problem as well under this setup, so it's obviously not right.

What do I need to do to resolve this? I see references to a 'strap' from various searches, however I can't find anything specific for this motor/kit. I see that I can buy a manual for it, but wondering if the manual would be of help as I'm told the hydraulic kit was an option for the 72 and that it would be a separate document - can anyone confirm this or know where this information would exist?

Any thoughts appreciated

CS

 

[Chris1956]

Is the PTT the factory made one for that motor, i.e, two trim cylinders outboard of the transom bracket, 4 hydraulic lines to the pump/reservoir combo mounted in the boat? If so, that unit will hold reverse thrust just fine. Remove that lock down mechanism, as that will likely cause damage if you hit anything in forward or reverse.

Look under the bottom of the pump/reservoir. There should be a knurled knob. With the motor down, turn it all the way CCW. That is the reverse lock and the manual release for that PTT system.

 

[Chris1956]

One more thing. The factory PTT motors had a black heavy-duty web strap from the transom bracket to the motor's swivel clamp. It was to stop the motor from hitting the boat, if it was kicked up due to hitting something.

 

[cornersoyo]

Is the PTT the factory made one for that motor, i.e, two trim cylinders outboard of the transom bracket, 4 hydraulic lines to the pump/reservoir combo mounted in the boat? If so, that unit will hold reverse thrust just fine. Remove that lock down mechanism, as that will likely cause damage if you hit anything in forward or reverse.

Look under the bottom of the pump/reservoir. There should be a knurled knob. With the motor down, turn it all the way CCW. That is the reverse lock and the manual release for that PTT system.

Thanks very much... yeah, that appears to be the factory one then. I will look for that knob - I assume this is a one time adjustment then? drop the motor, turn it all the way CCW, and then only go back CW if a manual release is required? Do you know what this feature does in order to hold in reverse?

Regarding the strap, naturally that wasn't included :-/ should I wait to get that installed first? Is there a temporary alternative?

Finally and just to confirm, the locking mechanism I refer to is the adjustable pin which was there when the motor was in manual mode, not something I added - so I figured it was safe to apply in this case - but obviously if the knob works (it's old, who knows!) it will certainly be good to remove this... ;-)