70hp 1982 evinrude manual tilt very stiff

[boatymcgee]

1982 70hp evinrude

I have always manually tilted the motor. It has become very stiff to do.


What do I have pictured here? Is this part of a power tilt, or just a shock absorber?

Can I add something to this to make it power tilt easily? Or how can I simply free it up to manual tilt easier? I assume that piston is what makes it so difficult to tilt?

thanks.

 

[racerone]

That is a " gas filled " tilt assist cylinder.----Perhaps the gas has leaked out.-----Power trim / tilt is easy to swap in.----Find a donor motor.

 

[boatymcgee]

The top of this tilt assist cylinder, do you know if it's just pull out two cotter pins and then knock the large pin through?

I have removed cotter pins from both side but the approximately 3/4-in thick pin at the top of the piston I just cannot get this to come through. Seems like you would just pull the pins and knock it through

 

[racerone]

When it was new it just slipped in.----But now 40 years later the corrosion product have jammed it.----Bigger hammer or visit your local boat shop.----In Canada-----evinrudeparts.ca-----May assist finding parts.

 

[boatymcgee]

My God, I pulled out the clips on both sides I'm literally smashing this with a sledgehammer as hard as I can and it does not budge.

 

[tphoyt]

Corrosion is a powerful thing. When was the last time the tilt/steering tube was greased?
Those cylinders are big $$$.

 

[boatymcgee]

The steering tube I grease yearly and it flows nice. The manual tilt has not been used or greased in many years it just stays stationary down drives and trailers that way. It has always been stiff is why I didn't use it, but now it's rock hard stiff. It never had a power tilt equipment, just the shock piston that is now seized.

The shock piston if that's what it's called, housing and stuff had seized bolts.

I just cut off the bolts and piston ram.

So basically I have removed everything that's in this photo, except that upper pin, I cannot get that out I've actually cut the top of the piston off. So I am left with all of this removed except the pin through the top and a little bit of the shaft sticking down cut off.

Will try to get someone stronger than me to sledge the **** out of it tomorrow

 

[tphoyt]

With out that in place be aware of any hard reverse throttle or maybe even slowing down to quickly. I guess you could use the manual lock if you have one but I never lock mine Incase I should hit something

 

[boatymcgee]

With out that in place be aware of any hard reverse throttle or maybe even slowing down to quickly. I guess you could use the manual lock if you have one but I never lock mine Incase I should hit something

I do have a manual lock which is always on usually. I do have it freed up now that I can lift and store the motor.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet either use it as is or buy a replacement part on eBay.

But yes even with the manual locked I do suspect it's going to bang around without that in place

 

[jimmbo]

With the Lock engaged, it should remain up or down, depending on where the Lock Lever is set. However, if you do hit something when running, the Engine may flip up very fast and without the Shock to limit the Tilt Up, might damage the boat and/or the Transom Bracket.

 

[racerone]

When you pound on these pins you may mushroom the end.----After that you will need a small atomic bomb to get it out !!

 

[boatymcgee]

I grind it off the head in case of mushroom. Still just unbelievable power in there.

I ended up getting it out. Drilled a small hole to put the point of a large 6 ft breaker bar in there and had a second person sledgehammer the end of the bar

And it took quite a bit of sledgehammer. Very surprised at the power in there. But it's out

 

[boatymcgee]

Okay I think I can declare success.

I pulled out all the old stuff and I made my own power tilt with a lenco 102 electric actuator. I just made a bracket and put it in place of the old piston and it works well.

Supposed to be marine grade, The only problem I can foresee is that I have this manual lock still. So if you were to forget to unlock the manual latch on the motor before using the power tilt I suppose you would be in trouble