Buying 1970’s Mercury power trim?

[ShoestringMariner]

Hey all, I have an opportunity to buy a power tilt & trim. I believe it is an early-mid 70’s and supposed to fit 650 & 850 motors. What I’d like to know is what should I be looking for.
Are these bullet proof or not so much?
Parts still available?
Are they easy to install?
Do they fit a real range of years or year specific. For instance, will it matter if it came off a 4 cyl version? Mine is a 1975, 3 cyl

 

[merc850]

You need the switches/wiring harness, the cables for power from the battery, 4 hoses,rubber bushings for the shock mounts and you remove the reverse lock cams from the LU. You will also have to bleed the system. One thing that can happen is the motor brushes wear down so the motor won't work, you can get the parts from Mercury and it's an easy fix.
Make sure that you bolt it on to the transom, I used SS carriage bolts.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, I know that a 70s PTT using will fit both 850 and 1150 motors, but I had thought the 650 motors had a different PTT unit. You might verify to make sure it will fit your application.

 

[racerone]

The 4 cylinder 50 hp , 3 cylinder 70 hp and 6 cylinder 115 hp appear to show the same trim cylinder part #

 

[ShoestringMariner]

THanks guys, so likely a fit?

 

[zorak]

I'm a little late on posting but yes, It will fit. I pulled one off a 650 and put on an 850 so IMHO it will fit.

 

[ShoestringMariner]

I'm a little late on posting but yes, It will fit. I pulled one off a 650 and put on an 850 so IMHO it will fit.

Thanks, I deliberated on it but then lost the opportunity as it sold to someone else. It was asking $450 for it which I thought was quite a bit of money for something that old

 

[racerone]

On marine stuff the age sometimes does not matter.-----Condition does.----Then there is that other " golden rule "----which is " those with the gold can set the price "-----The way I see it anyway.

 

[opalized1]

just a note, I picked up a whole darn boat with trailer and motor with trim motor for 200 bucks, then went and replaced the 4 hydraulic lines at 200 bucks, and installed on my boat, and was left with tons of other parts along the way, I believe this a much better approach than paying for just a ole trim motor assy, and in my case I got all wiring and everything was connected when I bought it so there was no issues figuring out where everything went, I see these deals quite regular, so something to watch for, exspecially int he winter when boating is not top priority pre Christmas exspecially.

Now someone had said make sure and bolt the trim cylinders to the boat, I didn't do so, but then my motor was securely mounted on boat, is there a special reason to bolt cylinders???

Also I had read how to disable the reverse lock out, but I found I liked having the motor come down on the rod, that sets maximum drop on motor, so when I trim the motor down it goes exactly where I think its going every time, it does make it alittle tougher ya have to think when you go to put the shifter in neutral make sure motor is all the way down, and make sure its in gear when lifting, but ive only blown it and wondered why the trim motor wasn't working a couple hundred times so far

 

[merc850]

That's too bad because PT really opens up the boat's potential trim down for take-off then you trim out reducing the amount of boat in the water - you can go faster and save fuel. If you don't bolt the brackets to the transom all the forces are passed onto the upper bolt which could cause deformation or breakage of the mount and bracket. Removing the reverse lock allows you to easily trim up or down in N or R; you don't remove the tilt pin but the cam assembly in the LU - the pump has the reverse lock as part of its internal plumbing.

 

[ShoestringMariner]

I found the full boat motor and trailer today for 1200 bucks with PTT on it. Thinking about grabbing the works pulling off the PTT in selling the boat for what I paid maybe a couple bucks more LOL

The motor is a 75 horse though it looks like it might be a few years newer than my 76

 

[Chris1956]

Opal, On those Merc PTT units, the top bracket supports the motor, under trim. It must be bolted (2 3/8" bolts for each bracket) to the boat to hold it securely.