Yamaha O/B Question on my 2520

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TimC2520

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I have a 1999, 225 HP OX66 and I have noticed something happening the last 2 times out. I leave the motor tilted all the way up when I leave for the day and the last 2 times down after the boat sat for 5 days here is what happens................I begin tilting the motor down, either from the dash switch or the switch on the motor and as soon as the engine hits the two rams it stops completely which is roughly 50% tilted down. I have to keep playing with it, up, down, up, down, etc before it will finally go down all the way. The tilt motor continues to run, I can here it, it just seems to not be strong enough to pull the motor down once it hits those steel rams. When it was working properly, the tilt down was rather quick, until it hits those rams, then it's a slow speed tilt the rest of the way. That area of slow speed tilt from roughly 50% down and then the rest of the way down seems to be getting more and more difficult. Any suggestions? It was fine all year until the last 2 weeks. Once it goes all the way down, it's fine the rest of the day.
Tim
 
Its not the trim motor and its not fluid. Motors tilt and then trim down due solely to gravity. I bet you need to lube the "knuckles" where the OB powerhead and powerleg rotate around the bracket that is part of the OB that holds it onto the transom. Whenever I say "OB bracket" in this message, I specifically mean the one that is part of the OB and not the Armstrong type of aluminum bracket that holds the entire motor off the back of the boat, if equipped.

Usually there is a zirk fitting on each knuckle, I say usually because Yam pretty much copied the OMC design verbatim and there are zirk fittings there on OMCs and Bombs. If hydraulic steeering, you'll need to remove the cylinder, as its in the way, but you do not need to disconnect any hoses. If the grease is old, heat up the knuckle area with a hair dryer or heat gun to help dissilve old grease as you work in new stuff.

DO NOT use trailer bearing grease. Get Yamaha's high performance blue colored waterproof synthetic grease. If a Bomb dealer is nearby, get their "Triple Guard" grease, as its the same thing (as all OB OEMs sell the same grease as their own) and Bomb sells it for dollars cheaper than Yummieha.

Another thing to do is to back off the large nuts holding the tilt-tube through the OB bracket. Force some good spray lube (PB Blaster or Kroil) between the nut and knuckle and cyle up and down repeatedly. Then lube with the blue grease. Make sure to retorque those nuts ... that's all the holds the tilt-tube from unscrewing out of place as you raise & lower the OB.

FWIW I take off my sterring cylinder as advising above every 2nd season to make sure I lube all zirk fittings. I also remove the port & starboard lower engine cowling pans then too, as there's more grease fittings that cannot be hit by just removing the OB hood/cover.

Please let me know if you need pictures or more advise ...
 
Dale,
Thanks for the reply. I will need some photos as I am not that mechanically inclined with what all these "parts" are called but I'd love to learn where exactly I need to grease. The motor is transom mounted, not bracket mounted. Im confused as to why the thing will go down beautifully until it hits those two stainless rams then stops completely. I hear the tilt motor still going, but the motor itself stops right there, 1/2 way down. It happened late last year, I had it hauled and the marina mechanic freed it up (I wasnt there to see how he did it) but it worked fine from July of last year through November. Before I covered it for the winter, I looked around and I saw a good bit of "new" grease just about on every fitting that I could imagine needing grease, so I am pretty confident the mechanic greased everything he thought needed it but who knows. It sat all winter, worked fine this year until the last trip or two, now I have to play with it once it stalls in that position, up, down, up, down until it goes down. Im sure, as last year, this will only get worse and then I wont be able to get it fully down again without a hassle of waiting for him to look at it again. I have looked at the shop manual for the motor and it says to apply a good coating on water resitant grease to these steel rams, but it says only that this will help clear up a "noisy" tilt motion. I was thinking of greasing these rams up really good and tilting it up and down a few times, then greasing it up again and repeating the process to make sure I get some grease down into those cylinders. Is this a good idea?
By the way, I got that life-line rescue rope in the mail the other day that you recommended and it is a good piece of equipment for $20.00 +-. I practiced throwing it in my family room to see how easily it would empty from that bag and I was surprised to see all 50' of it sail across the room with ease. I strapped it onto the back of my ladderback captain's chair.
Tim
 
TimC2520":4q8kyudg said:
Dale,
I'm confused as to why the thing will go down beautifully until it hits those two stainless rams then it stops completely. I hear the tilt motor still going, but the motor itself stops right there, 1/2 way down.
Hmmmmmmmmmm, I just went and rechecked my service manual. Usually when you're low on fluid the OB won't TILT up all the way. Those 2 rams you refer to are the TRIM rams and if Yam copied OMC exactly, there's no fluid routed to the top of the trim rams to force them to retract, its simply by weight of the motor and perhaps some fluid acting on the tilt piston. I still think its' worth doing what I said above. Also lube the trim and tilt rams withthat grease, slob it on them when they are fully extended, even spray them now with something.

Just so you know, there are checkvalves for the fluid routing in either UP or DOWN and if one was sticking ... that could be the reason, but I seldom have ever heard of anyone having to flush and fill a trim/tilt unit. If you need to do that to add new fluid, see the new post I will add after this one about doing so.

Oh yeah, and spray some anti-corrosion spray onto that t/t pump, they can be a bear to change on Yams, been there, done that - ugh!

I got that life-line rescue rope ... that you recommended ... I practiced throwing it in my family room ... was surprised to see all 50' of it sail across the room with ease.
Holy smokes ... I don't know whether to say "good throw" or "man, you have a HUGE family room" :) ! So I'll say both.
 
Hey Dale,

Last year when I had the same problem, the mechanic told me that once the OB hits those trim rams, the tilt motor then has to PULL the OB down and he thought the tilt motor may be weak and getting close to burning out. When I think of cruising along at 3500 RPMS slightly trimmed up then trimming down, it must take a considerable amount of energy to pull that 550+ lb engine down when thrust must want to push it up, so the tilt motor must have to pull at some point, no?
He ordered a new tilt motor last year and hauled the boat, only to discover they sent him the wrong part for a different size OB so he cleaned up the old tilt motor and had it working like new. Like I said, it worked fine after he did that and that was back in July 2005. I never pursued it further because it was working fine until now. I think I'll try greasing the hell out of those trim rams and seeing how that works. That is of course IF I can get it to trim down next time Im at the boat.
Tim
 
TimC2520":2ahypord said:
Hey Dale,
When I think of cruising along at 3500 RPMS slightly trimmed up then trimming down, it must take a considerable amount of energy to pull that 550+ lb engine down when thrust must want to push it up, so the tilt motor must have to pull at some point, no?
In fact ... no. It is simply the power of your OBs prop trying to force the OB into your boat that "pushes" the lowerunit to trim in towards the boat.

There's no down pressure to the trim rams at all from the hydraulics. Some downward pressure is exerted to the tilt ram to intitiate down movement, but when almost all the way down, gravity is supposed to take over. The hydraulic system was designed and valved to allow maximum thrust (via the "trim" rams) in the UP direction only. The "tilt" ram has a relief valve so it cannot raise an OB completely out of the water when the OB is pushing high thrust.
 
Interesting, I had it backwards. I remember my old 1973 Evinrude "Star-Flite" 115 HP and how it would just jump out of the water in reverse when I'd forget to lock it down. I'll try lubing the heck out of those trim rams and see if I can notice a difference.
 
I am hoping the fact that it trims down smoothly until it hits those trim rams, there must be a problem with those rams otherwise it would not be stopping at the point it hits those rams. Some guys have told me that they were told by their mechanics that it's best to conceal those rams into the cylinders when not in use. I've tried that once or twice but it seems to take forever for those things to disappear into the cylinders....maybe because they need to be lubricated. I want to drive down there right now but it's 75 miles from here. I can see a sick day happening real soon.
 
I've checked the fluid and it's fine. Once I get it freed up, it goes up and down the rest of the day fine, very smooth, very quickly with no hesitation. It only sticks when the boat sits for a few days. If the engine goes down mostly from gravity, then it must be those trim rams sticking if it's stopping at that point and Im probably freeing up the "freeze" by going up and down to break it loose. Im anxious to go down there and grease it up..I'll let you guys know how it works out.
Tim
 
Well, mid August and they are working perfectly after lubing them up BUT.........
I talked with a few guys who retract those trim rams after they leave the boat and I started doing that. Been fine for months but now after 15-30 minutes, they sloooooowly back out and are fully extended agian after an hour or so. What's up with that?
 
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