Basic Check to see if Mercruiser Trim Rams are faulty.
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Here are two of the basic checks to see if a ram is good. Full movement in and out, and also that the threads have not been cross threaded. Cross Treading is very easy to do when replacing lines, once that is done, the fitting at the ram will leak when under pressure,and the ram will have to be replaced.
Thanks
Larry
615-459-7202
Thank you Larry, Your video helped me diagnose my frozen rams on my Alpha 1 drive today. But since I'm a bonehead, I pulled the bastards apart and fixed them. There was just enough built up corrosion on the inside of the guide cap, that caused them to freeze. I used my battery terminal wire brush to get at the insides, lubed the ram rods and worked them over. Now they hold pressure and raise and lower again like champs. Thanks again mate!
Glad to hear we could assist you. Larry, ShipShape Marine
Thanks Larry. I took my rams off and both were solid although they worked when under hydraulic pressure. I didnt know what a good one should feel like, so I'm ordering up a new set now!
We offer many used trim rams for pre-alpha, alpha 1 and gen-2, OMC Cobra, and Volvo Penta. They are all fresh water parts that have been tested.
@shipshapetn is it possible to have water in the reservoir & have no leak? This is what I have going on
@@floridagirl386 Possibly rainwater dripping in over time through the vent hole in the top of the resevoir cap? Does it get wet?
@stevejones8644 it doesn't even have a vent hole but I just realized that the entire pump wasn't bolted down correctly smh so the reservoir was loosed from the actual pump, not sure if that can have an effect. I have a hunch the rams are sucking water in but still doesn't make sense why there's no leak of trim oil.
For those interested, both of my rams were stuck and it ended being the outer seals were over compressed. I bought the boat used with a thousand problems and found the u-joints had been replaced. I suppose they did not set the trim limit switch correctly and let the rams bottom out while in the up position.
+Richard Rogers Richard FYI, there is actually no limit switch on the full up position. The trim limit switch is for the regulation of how far it will go up prior to having to use the trailer button. This keeps you from over trimming the boat while running down the lake as to not put your U-joints in a bind and explode.
Ok, thanks! Just best guessing! Then these seals just get old and pop out.
+Richard Rogers Seals can get old and "Pop out" but not normally. Most of the time that this will happen is if the trim rams have water in them and not trim fluid. The water will freeze and expand and push the seals out.
I didn't see any physical water once they were apart, but there was corrosion up to the next seal so there must have been some in there at some point. This boat had its life in FL, not certain if there was much opportunity for it to freeze though.
Salt Water - all bets are off! LOL Larry
Shouldl it move that easy when it's still connected to the lines that go back into the boat (like if you disconnect the rod from the pivot pins in the front and rear and just have it hanging by the lines but not disconnected)?
No it should not move if the lines are still connected.
I recently replaced the seals in my power trim cylinders for my Mercruiser Alpha One. I tried testing the cylinders by pumping just as you did in your video however one seems to pump back and forth fine while the other cylinder does not, it seems way too pressurized as if it were to have air in it. How do I know if they are both done correctly?
If it does not move in and out freely, there is a problem with the ram/rebuild. We have plenty available for sale, probably for not much more than you paid for your rebuild kit.
@@shipshapetncan you post a link
I wish my idiot mechanic would of done a simple check like this instead of attaching the drive, hitting the switch and breaking a chunk of my upper and lower unit off because one of the rams got stuck !
I have a issue w my bravo XR drive on my Nordic boat. 496HO motor. Outdrive is not going down all the way it’s seems. Gauge is only dropping to about a 1/4 when it used to drop all the way. Also it hard to get out of the hole since the drive isn’t dropping all the way so I think. Any way to check the cylinders?
With the boat out of the water and on the trailer, will the rams pull the drive all the way down? If not, one messy check is to remove one of the power trim lines closest to the transom of the boat and see if it goes the rest of the way down as the trim fluid will squirt out and the drive will drop. If the lines are off and the drive will not go down all the way, there is a high probability that the rams are defective.
I pulled the rams from the center pin and checked the motion in and out. They both pulled in and out fairly evenly.
Are you saying that with the trim lines still connected, the rams moved all the way in and out by using the power trim pump?
ShipShape Marine yes exactly
From your description, and what I am understanding, you do not have a trim ram issue, but a drive issue where the drive will not go all the way down with the trim rams disconnected from the drive itself.