Tilt tube prob, I think!

[bigoldboy1]

My outboard is a 1981 Johnson Seahorse 75. I think it is called the tilt tube, you know the hydraulic ram thing that goes in and out as the motor is raised and lowered ,well it is making an awful screaching noise when I move the motor up and down and I think it is also making the motor very heavy to lift. Can this be rectified by repair or does it need to be replaced?

 

[Robalo]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

If its what I think there should be two that the motor comes down on ,well there should be ballberings on the end of then and on the back of the motor there should be lil skid plates either your ballberings are shot or just need grease.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

Bigoldboy1.... That PTT unit has two trim rams on each side of the PTT unit and one tilt cylinder in the center of it. At the top of the tilt cylinder assy, there are two nylon bushing halves.<br /><br />The noise you hear is most likely (usually) generated by a build up of salt corrosion between the top portion of the tilt cylinder rod and those bushings. This causes a tremendous amount of clamp like pressure on the retaining pin which results in noise.<br /><br />The cure is to remove the upper tilt cylinder retaining pin, lower the tilt cylinder, remove the two nylon bushing halves, clean away all of the corrosion and rust from the cylinder rod top area and the pin, bushing etc. Grease everything as needed with anti corrosive grease. You may need to replace the bushings as they may break when being removed.

 

[Walker]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

Joe gave good advice, but before you do anything check the fluid level. Those tilt units will scream a little sometimes when fluid is low.

 

[bigoldboy1]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

Cheers Robalo and Joe. I,m not absolutely sure we are talking about the same thing here. The unit I am talking about is just like a shock absorber to look at in the middle of the transom mount block and up to the tilting part of the motor. There is only one and this is not a power trim setup. Where the push rod goes into the cylinder the top appears to have four holes that could maybe be there for a specific tool to remove this top but I have tried a punch in these holes and a gentle tapping but nothing moved. When the motor is moved up and down if you put your hand on the cylinder the vibration from the sceaching can be felt. Do you think we are talking about the same thing?

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

On the manual tilt models, regardless of whether the problem is with the top bushing or within the cylinder itself, the tilt cylinder must be removed first to repair either section.<br /><br />Since the top pin must be removed first, it is logical to clean, grease etc the bushings first. If that doesn't solve the problem, then it's a case of repair or replace the cylinder.

 

[bigoldboy1]

Re: Tilt tube prob, I think!

Thanks Joe. Perhaps you could look at my other query under motor positioning and give your opinion.