Trim cylinder hose replacement

[Chaparral210SSi]

Update on progress - I picked up a heavier duty adjustable "pin wrench" with different sized pin fittings. Finally got the end cap off and completely disassembled both cylinders. I will be going ahead and replacing all the seals since I've made it this far. Thanks everyone for your input!

Next up in regards to this journey, is there a superior method or any suggestions for draining the entire trim/tilt system to get all of the old fluid (and water) out?

 

[alldodge]

With cylinders off, run pump dry
Can try to clean tank out and refill or add more and run pump again to flush out

 

[Chaparral210SSi]

With cylinders off, run pump dry
Can try to clean tank out and refill or add more and run pump again to flush out

Thank you! This is exactly what I did, I meant to update yesterday. I just ran the trim up til empty with the cylinder hoses in a bucket, then down til empty. Refilled with fresh ATF, ran up and down til empty again 2x then refilled once more and now I'm waiting for my seal kits to reinstall the cylinders.

In other news, I pulled the shift cable yesterday and tried to run fishing line through the jacket to route the new one, upon loosening the shift jacket nut from the bell housing I lost the fishing line. I guess the spinning/tension sucked it back in so now I have an interested re-routing job ahead of me with an engine bay that has little to no access never a dull moment with these tasks I guess.

 

[Lou C]

Funny thing was I had a small leak from the port side cyl but no water at all in the fluid. So I didn’t wind up having to exchange all the fluid.

 

[Chaparral210SSi]

Funny thing was I had a small leak from the port side cyl but no water at all in the fluid. So I didn’t wind up having to exchange all the fluid.

That is fortunate! Was it a bad seal or how did you fix the leak?

 

[Lou C]

What happened was that the Ram rod was pitted & tore the seal in the end cap. Salt water boat moored in salt water. So I think I got great life out of them and it only costs $55 each to get the OEM kit to rebuild them (OMC Cobra & early Volvo SX have the same exact rams).
I left the old cylinders on the boat & replaced the pistons rams & end fittings with good freshwater used parts & new seals.

 

[tank1949]

Hi all,

I'm new here but have used the forum a ton while working on the outdrive of my boat (2007 Chaparral 210 SSi - Alpha One Gen 2). Amazing content and extremely helpful people here.

Onto my issue(s) - My outdrive was showing quite a bit of paint flaking/some corrosion so I've undertaken a maintenance and refinishing job.

My current hiccup (the job seems to get bigger by the day) is in regards to the trim cylinders/rams. I went to remove them to refinish them and as I was draining them realized that the fluid looked like it had water intrusion. First question is - what is the most likely culprit here, the seals on the cylinders themselves? The trim seemed to function just fine and never realized any leaks or fluid levels dropping at the reservoir to any noticeable degree.

Next, I had a real time getting the hoses off of the port side cylinder (ie I couldn't, tried everything - heat, PB blaster, myriad of wrenches/vice grips). The hoses looked like they could use replacing anyways so I just cut them and used a 6 point socket to remove them. I manually cycled the cylinders to get all remaining fluid out, cleaned them up/sanded and painted them. When I go to reinstall them, from what I've read you can purge the lines by simply cycling the trim up/down. Is this still the case if I've emptied the cylinders themselves or must I use another method to refill the cylinders (as I've read in the manual)?

Thank you in advance and happy to be a part of such a great forum. I'm sure there will be more posts to follow as I'm tackling many things I'm unfamiliar with!

Daniel

Most systems will automatically purge. Seal kits are cheap and offer peace of mind. Easy to install... Easy to flush. I would have open rams and flushed and then add new fluid. Pump our reservoir. Check manifold connection at OD. It has a gasket that sometimes leaks. Cheap to replace.