Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

[brittles]

Hoping someone could help me diagnose the problem I'm having with my Alpha 1 outdrive being stuck in the up position. When I press the down button I hear the pump running and that's all. Will bleeding the system cure it?

Unfortunately the boat has sat for about 5 years with the outdrive in the trailer position.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dn010]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

You will likely need new bellows if it was up for 5 years. Is there oil in the pump? Are there any leaks? On mine I had to rebuild the pistons / rams / cylinders because they were corroded in place - up like yours.

Hoping someone could help me diagnose the problem I'm having with my Alpha 1 outdrive being stuck in the up position. When I press the down button I hear the pump running and that's all. Will bleeding the system cure it?

Unfortunately the boat has sat for about 5 years with the outdrive in the trailer position.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[brittles]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

Thanks

No leaks and oil is nearly full.

How difficult is bellow replacement?

 

[Radarman68]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

when I purchased my boat, the drive had been up for about 4 years and was stuck in the trailer position. Here is what I did. I greased all the fittings on the outdrive. I pulled one end of the pistons off from the drive and made sure the drive was free and I could move it up and down. Connected the drive and pistons again. Sprayed lubricant on piston rams and wiped down to remove ALL dirt and corrosion. Spray down again, making sure to leave some liquid where the piston ram goes into the piston. then I had a very heavy friend stand on the drive while I powered it down. It was stuck and my friend had to jump up and down a couple times to get it unstuck.

as DN010 stated, you absolutely, definitely, have some pending maintenance to do as well..

**MAKE SURE to replace the water pump impellor, in addition to fluids, grease, belts, fuel, etc, etc**

have fun!

 

[dn010]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

Bellows can be a pain to change depending on your skill level - check out the manual and see what it involves. You'll need a hinge tool and an exhaust bellows install tool otherwise you'll waste a lot of time trying to get it on and your fingers will hurt after you finally do. The bellows are stretched in the full up position, so when you bring it down it will probably crack in the grooved areas. The only time my drive is up is when I trailer - any other time it's either all the way down or up very slightly

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

Disconnect the rams and make sure the drive moves up and down freely.
Run the pump with rams disconnected a few times all the way in, all the way out.
Free up the anchor pin the rams connect to which is probably frozen.
Grease all fittings of course.

 

[brittles]

Re: Alpha 1 stuck in trailer position.

Thanks to all of you.

Took the rearward rams off the outdrive and they still wouldn't move. Switched the two oil supply lines at the pump (read on here about the different psi between up and down), reattached the rams, friend stood on top of outdrive while I operated the tilt switch......... it broke loose and all is good.