Adjusting Drive Indicators
 

I had a new starboard drive indicator cable installed this spring. Now the "pointer" indicators are not even.
Does one adjust these from the pushrod assemblies attached to the drives? I would love to get the word from
someone who has done this. What's the best way? (29' Fountain Fever with twins)

Funny you should post this. I noticed the other day my starboard indicator was hanging up just past "4". Port side indicated just fine and the drives were working just fine After it went on the trailer I was messing with the spring loaded portion and the spring was hanging up inside the tube. I assume its nothing more than a coil spring having some crap in it or corrosion. But I would think pulling the drives all the way in or out and adjusting the spring assembly by loosening the hold down claps and adjusting it to "3" all the way in and "8" extented would work. Might take a couple trys to get it right. Or maybe I don't know what I am talking about, LOL I Have not had to mess with them yet. Let me know what you come up with.

If you look on the spring loaded cylinder you will see a small hole on both sides. To align them run the drives all the way in then check the rod inside the cylinder to see if the hole is aligned. You should be able to run a small piece of wire, allen key or a drill bit through them. If you do not see the hole try turning the rod to make sure it has not just turned where you cannot see the hole. To align, loosen the clamps enough for you to be able to stick whatever you are using through the hole. With the drives all the way in now move the cylinder with rod pinned until the rod touches the cup on the drive. Apply just a little pressure where the drill bit will slide back and forth. Now tighten the clamps on the cylinder then pull the drill bit out. Now if the needle is off you can adjust the rods under the dash with a couple of small wrenches. The rod fits between a nut on each side, just loosen and move which way you need. Retighten and you are done.

Hope this helps

I don't want to steal your thread, but since your on the topic, how do you change the drive cable, it looks like the spring loaded ends come a part (I think) big nut on the one end of the spring loaded tube, but didn't want to put a vice grips on the tube to try to get the nut lose, thought I'd get some advice first before I do something stupid...I got new SS cable grips that I want to put on, that cover the holes in the transom.... thanks for any help Joe

"3" is usually neutral trim on Fountains ... at least that is how most came from the factory .... same with the tabs, "3" is tabs level, on the indicators. So, when all the indicator are at "3", everything is at its neutral position, and that would also allow you to use the guidance on the Fountain performance report for their "recommended" settings. Note that this is not "always" the case, but was typically what they did. "1" on the drive(s) is usually fully tucked "in".On the drives, as you trim out, it eventually runs out of stroke on the trim indicator rod, mounted on the trim ram, and the drive keeps going up until it runs out of stroke on the trim rams. You would see a gap between the end of the trim indicator rod and the round "bumper" attached to the trim ram attach bolt. So, once you go beyond "7" on the trim indicator, you only know that your drive is "up", somewhere beyond the stroke of the trim indicator. If you want the drive all the way "up", you just need to listen until you hear the trim pump deadhead.

To answer the OP question, though, you can move the trim indicator unit on the drive ram. Typically, all the way in with the drive is set to "1" and that puts neutral trim at about "3". Only thing that would alter that is which side of the trim ram bolt/pin (the one that goes through both rod ends of the trim cylinders and outdrive body) that the spacer "pucks" are positioned. They should be the same position on each drive. On the fastec 292's those pucks were positioned on the aft most side of the bolt/pin so that the drives didn't "tuck" in as far when the rams were fully retracted - less chance of people hurting themselves from trimming in too far at speed and wrecking their boats. Some people reversed them so that the boat got on plane quicker, since that allowed the drives to tuck in further. Not 100% sure, but I think Fountain put the pucks inboard of that bolt/pin so you got quicker planing. I never fooled with the indicator needles at the dash ... rather tough to get in there. Hope this helps.

Here is a diagram :

[ATTACH=CONFIG]502262[/ATTACH]

Thanks for the great advice everyone. It took me a bit longer than I expected today to clean up the boat so I will tackle this job Monday. I'll take pictures and time the job and post the results.
Again, thanks!

Ford F350 - When I first got my Fountain in 2011 the port drive indicator had "limited range" just as you described. I too, took apart the cylinder thinking that it could be the reason the indicator would not travel its full range. The cylinder was not the issue. I had to replace the cable.
There were two different qualities of cables with the top quality costing only about $5 more. I had the cable replaced (about a $50 item) and the indicator worked perfectly. The starboard cable lasted a year longer. Now I just need to get the indicator dialed in which appears to be an easy process thanks
to the knowledge of folks on this forum -:) Good luck.

I just replace both trim cables over weekend. If you put it back to the original spots nothing should change. I just loosened set screws on drive side off cable and it slides right out, took off the nut on the other end of cable and loosened the little set screw on the indicator side, and reversed the steps for the install. I did notice about 1" off adjustment on the end that hooks up to indicators if needed. Hardest part for me was pulling the cables through without disturbing too many wires that follow the same path.

Finished adjustments yesterday. Click on link below to see pictures and info on tool sizes.
Boat Pictures