450DA TNT hydraulic swim platform issues-$1,700 later!

DjDaoust

Member
Nov 4, 2015
213
La Crosse, WI
Boat Info
1998 450 Sundancer - 3 Boys & A Blonde
Engines
Cat 3126's
So this happened during my wife and I's week-long boating vacation without kids leaving La Crosse, WI to Dubuque, IA. Waiting to lock through at Lock & Dam 10 in Guttenberg, IA, I noticed that our swim platform was filthy from all the floating debris (flooding up north from us, check out the photo of the water). I plug in the hydraulic controller and drop the swim platform all 4-5 feet under water. Once I went to bring it back up and return it to it's normal position, it locked up on us. Needless to say, we were 100 miles from our home port. So we locked through and pulled into a marina a couple miles north at idle speed. Looking in the bilge, I noticed one of the fluid lines sprung a leak. Trying to think quickly, I called Mr. Frank Webster for advice. He gave me great advice on best way to patch the leak.

The patch was not successful, so the next morning, the local marine tech came down. We was able to pull the 8 ft. line off and bring it into town to have a new one built for $225. SUCCESS!

He replaces the line and fills the reservoir up with fluid. Goes to try the control, NOTHING!!! After going over fix scenerios in his head for two hours, he gives up and says there is nothing he can do. Now what?!?!?

I tell him & my wife that we need to get north. I asked him where the next travel lift might be for a 13 ton vessel. 23 miles upstream north in Prairie du Chien. At idle speed, that 23 miles took 7 hours!

We pulled into a little marina, Regal Marine Group, and two gentlemen began to diagnose our issue. 2 hours into it, we are notified of an inbound storm. They tell us to return the next day at 9am and they will continue to work on it. Fortunately for us, we had friends that were in town camping and we stayed with them in their beautiful park-model.

The next day, we returned and one of the techs informed me that a TNT lift guy will call to help diagnose our issue. He never called....

After a few hours, they decided they needed to pull her. Once pulled, they used a forklift and bleeding the lines to raise it back up into place. 2 hours later, she was up. They rigged it to stay with a chain system.

$1,400 and 24 hours later, we were on our way. The entire family at the marina, and other slip holders were amazing and very accomidating.

Needless to say that those days were a disaster.
 

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Welcome to Goliath hell. What looks like happened is when a hose went on one side, the other side went up and then binded the whole system. I find sometimes engaging the lift to go back down and then bounce a little on the side that's up until it lets go. Be prepared for the drop when it does let go. I do this in the water, it slows down the drop.
 
Here is the best solution for your problem:

http://www.swimplatforms.com/showImages.php?mk=389

They do have patterns for the '95-'99 450DA.

Based on the experiences here in NW Florida with older TNT lifts, putting the TNT in the dumpster and replacing it with one from swimplaforms.com will be cheaper than repairing yours.
 
Already requested a quote Frank. $5,500 delivered. Might consider. She's staying put for now. Thanks again for calling me back last week and the advice.
 
While not a perfect solution, I probably would have unbolted the fiberglass platform and stowed it for the journey home. From your pictures it looks like it locked itself up when it tried to retract the platform. Once it got into that position they just lock up and you have to alleviate the bind. You mentioned a lot of debris on the platform when you extended it.....any chance some debris got into the lifting mechanism and jammed one side?

While I agree with Frank on most things.....he isn't a fan of TNT lifts. I certainly agree with him about their poor performance in salt water but fresh water boats are not the same story.
 
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You have definitely convinced me that it was better to purchase the boat with the bow thruster over the other with the hydraulic swim platform! Sorry for your woes...
 
While not a perfect solution, I probably would have unbolted the fiberglass platform and stowed it for the journey home. From your pictures it looks like it locked itself up when it tried to retract the platform. Once it get into that position they just lock up and you have to alleviate the bind. You mentioned a lot of debris on the platform when you extended it.....any chance some debris got into the lifting mechanism and jammed one side?

While I agree with Frank on most things.....he isn't a fan of TNT lifts. I certainly agree with him about their poor performance in salt water but fresh water boats are not the same story.



John,

This saga began with a pin hole in one of the main hydraulic supply lines in the bilge. When they tried to raise the lift, one side had hydraulic power, the other did not because the fluid was leaking out in the bilge. I surmised that the lift bound itself as one side went up and the other did not. Rather than bleed the system to get the air out of it, the yard they used chose to force the fluid back out of the good side with a forklift.

You are right…….I'm not a fan.
 
I'm just surprised they didn't unbolt the platform .....it's just four bolts. If they had done that there wouldn't have been a saga to write about. A new hydraulic line and a couple of up/down cycles and the platform would have bolted on. While I understand your concerns about TNT....if it really was a 14 year old hydraulic line .....is it fair to trash the entire lift for something TNT and everyone else in the hydraulic platform business buys from other suppliers?

Using a forklift to solve that problem could have created a far more serious problem. I like hydraulic lifts (on fresh water). There is no reason for this owner to rip it all away for a failed hydraulic line.
 
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