Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

[rajabatis]

Hi All. A Merry Christmas to all on the Forum. I hope you are all having a great day.

I'm putting a new boat and motor combo together and thought I would just go out and do a bit more to move things along.

I just got the motor bolted to the transom yesterday and got all wired up and started it for the first time.
There was no problem starting it, but there seemed to be an excessive amount of vibration compared to my old Evevinrude 50.
Looking at the shock absorber mounts on the leg (sorry I'm not familiar with the correct term for these) the bolts running through them from leg to the steering swivel mount appear to be loose, with no retaining washers or nuts on both mounts on either side on both units to compress the circular rubber cushions and thus create a shock or vibration system.

Is this correct? This is a new motor I can't believe it that for one moment this is correct the motor moves about so much.

In fact when I tilt the motor full up the drag link screw touches the bottom pan of the lower motor cover casings and could damage it as the boat is being trailered and the engine is bouncing around a bit.

I've put up some pictures here of the parts that are causing me concern.

Cover of the mounts.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x9/SurenuffandesIdo/TohatsuLegShockAbsorberCover.jpg

Cover removed. There are no retaining nuts in the recess where the pencil is pointing.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x9/SurenuffandesIdo/TohatsuLegShockAbsorber3.jpg

This is a shot showing the amount of movement on the motor and gap between the casing and the drag link if lift the leg of the motor under light pressure, this gap closes very easily and is bound to cause damage to the casing.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x9/SurenuffandesIdo/TohatsuDragLinkConnectionHittingCas.jpg

Drag link now clearing the lower casing.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x9/SurenuffandesIdo/TohatsuDragLinkConnection.jpg


Any comments from any of you who have Tohatsu engine experience, before I take this complaint and maybe make a fool of myself, to the folk who sold it to me and the distrubuters?

Thanks in advance.

 

[paintitup12]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

personally i think u should tighten them and put nuts on the back to hold them but i wouldnt count completely on me(im not all too familiar to bigger engines

 

[rajabatis]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

personally i think u should tighten them and put nuts on the back to hold them but i wouldnt count completely on me(im not all too familiar to bigger engines

Thank you for the response.

I did say though in the post, "the bolts running through them from leg to the steering swivel mount appear to be loose, with NO retaining washers or nuts on both mounts on either side on both units to compress the circular rubber cushions and thus create a shock or vibration system."

So there is nothing to put back on and tighten? This is a new out of the packing motor just as it arrived.

The only thing I have done to the motor is unpack it and drill the boats transom for the mounting bracket.

Maybe you missunderstood my question? It was - Is this the way it is supposed to be supplied and used?

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

It's fairly obvious that the lower shock mount bolts bolt into nuts that are missing. The link arm looks like you are missing the spacer and washer. What dealer is letting you you do the installation yourself? That's a big no no in the U.S.

 

[rajabatis]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

It's common over here to buy motors and fit them yourself. There is no restriction on the sale of a motor that the the selling dealer or any dealer must do the work.

I'm surprised you have that situation over there? Does no one put together their own engine/boat package?

Why would it be a no no?

Fitting a correctly rated engine as recommended by the boat manufacturer is not a difficult job? Get it vertical in relation to the transom, centre it up, clamp it with the engine transom bracket clamp bolts. Drill the retaining bolt holes to allow some lee-way get the ventilation plate height correct. Add some sealant, fit the supplied bolts and that's it?

The wiring for the tachometer and tilt guage are simple jobs to that just need patience. The control box is just a simple side mount with the usual shift and throttle cables.

I removed and refitted my old boat engine combo and wired all the electrics myself a couple of times and coming from an engineering background it held no fears to do the new one.

The link arm is correct and fitted as per the manual with the correct spacers. The spacer with the radius on the edge is in a recess under the steering arm/bracket with a flat washer on top of that spacer, the retaining bolt is fixed into the threaded hole in the steering bracket and prevented from unscrewing with a split pin. The way it is recessed and out of sight, may be making you think it is missing?

I was pretty sure that was the situation with the shock absorber bolts. I just wanted a good 2nd opinion as I was not familiar on how Tohatsu engines were set up in that departement not having owned one before.

I have it now. Many thanks.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

It's a liability issue in the U.S. so the manufacturers either have a direct prohibition against self installs or they frown on it enough to restrict the way in which engines can be distributed here. Tohatsu U.S. has a prohibition against anyone other than an authorised Tohatsu dealer doing the install. It's silly, but it prevents some mishaps and does avoid the classic "my new engine will not start" statements that plague other brands. Are you an Aussie or a Kiwi?

 

[DJ]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

rajabatis,

We have no idea where "over here" is. By reading your post, we assume(d) you are in the US. We all know that mounting an engine is not that hard but...........

Your question was answered by the best Tohatsu/Nissan guy here.

He is right, we have lawyers crawling out of the woodwork here just looking for a reason to sue.

 

[rajabatis]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

Sorry guys I did not realise that my country of origin was not on show. I'll sort that out.

SCOTLAND It is.

I'm pretty sure he is the best guy to answer DJ. I hoped he would. I follow Tohatsu Gurus post with interest.

We don't have the same amount of legislation here. It's going that way mind! But we do have a bit less of a "sue them" mentality fortunately.

Here is another query on those same bolts. The bolts are M12. 17 mm across the flats. The retaining nuts needed are M12, 17mm across the flats. 17mm spanner or socket size. Easy enough to obtain in stainless steel.

Question is are they std metric pitch or fine pitch? Most M12 nuts are 19mm spanner size?

 

[rajabatis]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

Looks like a Japanese worker on the Tohatsu assembly line sneezed as my motor came by and missed fitting those.

I got a couple of std pitch steel 12mm ones today and tried them out for fit today. Std pitch M12 it is.

I'm looking forward to chatting to the dealer now who gave my motor its pre-delivery inspection and ticked all the boxes on the delivery checklist sheet OK............

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

There must have been a flu bug that day because it took at least two more to sneeze...The QC inspector and the guys that do the test runs missed it too.

 

[rajabatis]

Re: Tohatsu 50 MD Leg shock absorbers.

In reality THREE inspections - assuming they took place, missed the problem.

Leaving out the personel who failed to fit the nuts (which makes four errors!). The Tohatsu factory QC inspector, the test run guys and the company in England that supplied it, who are supposed to do a pre-delivery check that all is sound, missed the problem as well.