Hi all,
I'm still in the break in period for my new 25 hp merc EFI 4-stroke. Engine runs good, fuel efficiency is great, twist grip shifter is not good, and the tilt mechanism seems bad IMHO. As a kid we had an 80's merc 9.9, and now that I have this new engine, I remember the old one had a very similar design.
In N or Rev, the engine locks to the trim bar. In order to tilt the engine up (e.g. when coming to shore) it has to be in FWD. This seems to be just plain bad design to me. It locks to the bar in Rev, so the motor doesn't tilt up when you're backing up. I think the rationale for having it locked down in N, is so if you rope start it, there's no possibility of the motor tilting up from the pull of the rope. When I want to tilt up my new motor or put it on shallow water drive mode, (say coming into shore, or when putting it on the trailer), I need to either, be idling in FWD and tilt the motor at the same time. This is not a good thing to do. The motor is heavy enough on it's own, but then you are also working against the thrust. OR shut the motor down in FWD, then tilt it.
My tiller OMC's always have a manual locking lever... when you switch it to "tilt" it is unlocked and the motor can be tilted to shallow water, or all the way up, even in Neutral.
So, is it me, or is the merc design just bad?? Or is there some obvious way of operating this that I have just overlooked?? Please tell me whether you find the coupling of the tilt lock to the gearshift to be a good thing, or whether like me, you think it's a PITA. Maybe it's just me (?). It's enough of a pain that perhaps I should've checked out other brands more. How do Honda's/Yamaha's/Suzuki's work? By the way, my Merc is a straight manual tilt, no gas assist. I'm not sure if they work the same or not.
I'm still in the break in period for my new 25 hp merc EFI 4-stroke. Engine runs good, fuel efficiency is great, twist grip shifter is not good, and the tilt mechanism seems bad IMHO. As a kid we had an 80's merc 9.9, and now that I have this new engine, I remember the old one had a very similar design.
In N or Rev, the engine locks to the trim bar. In order to tilt the engine up (e.g. when coming to shore) it has to be in FWD. This seems to be just plain bad design to me. It locks to the bar in Rev, so the motor doesn't tilt up when you're backing up. I think the rationale for having it locked down in N, is so if you rope start it, there's no possibility of the motor tilting up from the pull of the rope. When I want to tilt up my new motor or put it on shallow water drive mode, (say coming into shore, or when putting it on the trailer), I need to either, be idling in FWD and tilt the motor at the same time. This is not a good thing to do. The motor is heavy enough on it's own, but then you are also working against the thrust. OR shut the motor down in FWD, then tilt it.
My tiller OMC's always have a manual locking lever... when you switch it to "tilt" it is unlocked and the motor can be tilted to shallow water, or all the way up, even in Neutral.
So, is it me, or is the merc design just bad?? Or is there some obvious way of operating this that I have just overlooked?? Please tell me whether you find the coupling of the tilt lock to the gearshift to be a good thing, or whether like me, you think it's a PITA. Maybe it's just me (?). It's enough of a pain that perhaps I should've checked out other brands more. How do Honda's/Yamaha's/Suzuki's work? By the way, my Merc is a straight manual tilt, no gas assist. I'm not sure if they work the same or not.