Drive won't trim down

[Cincy Aquaholic]

Well, I went to winterize my boat yesterday and found a serious problem. My starboard drive will not trim all the way down or up. Something is apparently causing it to get bound up. Trim pump is working, has fluid, and will raise almost to upper trailer position but when doing so I could see and hear a kind of clunking, popping. Like something is binding up. Definitely not smooth and didn't sound good. When lowering it does the same thing but will barely get past the highest "non-trailering" level. Pushing on it, moving it side to side has no impact. What in the world could be causing this? I can't imagine this is a trim sender because it sure looks and sounds like it's a mechanical issue. :huh:

 

[Cincy Aquaholic]

I'm quite surprised no one else has come across this issue! Is this a first for me??

Well, here's an update: According to the sea ray dealer mechanic the trim rams on my drive are bad. They don't bother to disassemble them because it is cheaper to replace with after market ones. But he diagnosed them as sticking/locking up - probably corroded inside. As well as a faulty trim pump check valve. Not sure exactly what that means. In any event, there's a company that sells these but they are not mercruiser but identical in look and function for 1/3 the cost. It's what they always go with unless replacing under warranty. I will have to disassemble when I get the bad ones back to see what happened. Bear in mind this boat has never stayed in the water longer than 4-5 days at a time. Only has 350 hours on it. And I could seen no leaks or damage. Total bill for repair is going to be around $1,100. ugh.

 

[SandyD]

I just went through all of this. It started out by my having difficulty in trimming down. After a few minutes of running I would be able to get trim down. I just lived with it for a year or so. Then I installed a swim platform which required spacers be installed in the trim rams to prevent full trim up from contacting the platform. To install the spacers required my unscrewing the end caps of the rams and sliding them up the ram about 4 inched to install the spacer. I had no problem with the trim up ram (port side) but I could not get the trim down ram end cap to move once unscrewed. I just went ahead and replaced both rams along with their pivot rods and hydralic lines. Total cost for parts was less than $500.

 

[Lazy Daze]

"Clunking, popping" - Yes, either something is corroded up or has (most likely) broken, internally. Either way, your shop is correct that it is usually a better idea to just go with new rams than to pay them to completely disassemble, diagnose (won't know how bad things are till you get in there) and fix. They're probably using either SEI or Sierra for the replacements - both are good options for this issue. Without a major hit, it's pretty rare for these rams to go bad, but they are a mechanical thing and it does happen from time to time just like anything else... unfortunately.

FYI, both rams operate the up and down functions - it's not "one is up, the other is other is down".

 

[SandyD]

Dennis,

Thanks for the clarification on up/down.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Sure - just offering that tidbit for future reference. If you happen to be trying to diagnose an issue, it could be a real head scratcher!

 

[Cincy Aquaholic]

Thanks Dennis. I'll look forward to tearing them apart. I'm at a loss as to what cause them to go bad.