Drive Stuck in Up Position
 

i wanted to post here to get the most visibility.

i am having trouble with my starboard outdrive (bravo 1's). it is stuck in the up trim position. i hit the switch the motor kicks on but no movement. i then detached the lines into the rams to see if the outdrive would move with no pressure in the hydraulics...nothing. i think my rams have seized. any inputs or suggestions? i would think with no pressure in the system my hydraulic rams would move up and down no? help...

Hit the down switch with someone standing on sides of the drive...odds are you owe me a beer.

should be able to just pull down on it while someone holds the switch. stuck on gimble ring.

Tried standing on it, nothing. Doesn't budge. I even isolated the rams (left and right) and neither want to go down. I took the bolt off attaching the rams to the outdrive. The drive drops but the rams don't do anything. Just stay at the same length. Frustrating...

Fixx
 

you will littery have to jump up and down on the drive to get it to move..mine did it a few years ago and its fine now..this is one of the reasons you are soppose to store them in the down position..

i didnt store it in the up position...i trimmed to the up position and now it wont drop back down. and i tried jumping up and down...nothing.

Bad solenoid, loose wire, bad trim motor. Those would be where I'd look Justin.

Do a search on google.....I found some things out on The Hull Truth

Does the motor make a sound when you hit the button? If not, change solonoid. You also test by jumping across the solonoid to test if its bad.

+1

the motor runs and sounds as it should when i press the button but the drive doesnt move. the motor doesnt sound strained either as if it were reaching the full up or down position. the drive moves down like a 1/4" and stops and then goes back up. not sure where to turn next.

remove all the oil lines from the rams and then jump up and down on it take the pump completly out of the eqaution

We tried that. Nothing.

take a blow gun from a compressor and put air pressure in the ports farthest away from the transom on the rams

This may be a long shot but have you checked the Trim height adjustment switch on the side of the drive??? Maybe it came loose and won't allow the drive back down. I think it's held in posistion with two philips head screws.

Go buy two new rams - install, move on.

For 1g no thanks...

Boating is fun, Isn't it ? For every problemless day, there is 15 problem days. Don't let anybody tell you different. It doesn't matter if you spend 50 grand or 500 grand, their is always a problem. If they made boats as reliable as cars, the boating industry would be screwed. They rely on boats being tempermental. Could you imagine that you would be happy if your car ran 100 hours and didn't need a complete re-build, like your boat engine(s). Crazy stuff. The technology is there. What about turbines ? They're supposed to be the most reliable things on the planet. Could you imagine if the " Apache" helicopters that all these turbine motors for boats supposedly came from performed in the choppers the same way they do in boats. Their would be an awful lot of fatalities. Turbines in planes are supposed to last " forever ". We all know that nothing lasts forever, but just imagine being in a plane and the captain talking to you on the intercom, and he says " we're running un-opposed on this flight, so we're going to slow it down so we don't break all of our equipment". My point is., a fast, high performance boat can be built to be reliable, someone just has to do it. It will piss off the other engine builders, but it can be done. PS, I absolutely do not have the knowledge to be a mechanic, but I'm just going with common sense, probably a mistake. Anyway. I said my piece, Godspeed

i will take a look at that tomorrow and let you know.

someone told me a similar technique. another person said that if the rams are extended beyond operating travel they will get lodged and not want to move. the only thing to do is take them off completely and use something to squeeze it back down.

Take a long clamp bar and put it on both ends then tighten.

Moses - the reason I said buy rams is I had the same problem one year. could never get them back down and ended up the only solution was to grab two new (used) rams.

the seals are bad in the rams.. get the rebuild kits (not expensive) and make sure the fluid is clean in the pump... some get water in them. mine just did the same thing. ill post some pics of the kits later and give u a part number.

I had the same issue with one of my Bravo 1's this year. Jumping on the drive didn't cure my issue either. I had to take the anodes of the rams then sand the corrosion from the anode off with 2000 grit wet sandpaper. I then used an 8 foot piece of 2x10 wedged between the fins on the drive. Have someone push the trim down button while you gradually apply more weight to the back of the 2x10 until the drive moves. Crude I know but the long lever allows you to apply pressure in a controlled fashion until it moves. It will move!

ill keep everyone up to date...i plan on spending the day trying to fix it.

pretty unsuccessful day...got one to contract by using a car jack and the front bucket of a tractor. didnt seem to help. its still stuck. im going to look into re building them.

for anyone who is curious...i ended up going with used rams for $250. swapped out the old ones. we are back in business!!!

not sure what to do with the old ones yet. rebuild kits are $90 each and it seems like a lot of work to tear them apart. i was also told the hydraulic is never the same after you rebuild it. usually its more susceptible to corrosion and metal fatigue. who knows.

thanks guys.

Does'nt anyone understand how saltwater gets past tt\he wiper seal then builds up corrosion around the "O" rings inside ? Take the rams and have them rebuilt . End of story.

i think you confirmed my statement. if saltwater gets into the ram, it is possible that the cylinder and shaft have been pitted or corroded. why rebuild them when everything must be replaced. like i said above, once everything has been subjected to corrosion the ram wont be the same.

I just saw this thread Justin, glad to see you got it fixed.

Out of curiosity I'd be tempted to at least open up one of the bad ones and see what it looks like. If it could be easily rebuilt I'd leave it on the shelf, if the ram is all pitted, I'd just toss it in the can and look for another used part when the time comes that you end up needing another one.

I don't want to say "I told you so" but.....:grinser010::grinser010:

I've got about a half dozen frozen up rams in my garage.

Glad you got it back up and running!!

eh rebuilding them doesnt seem to appealing espicially when i can buy used ones for $250.

Figure if I spend $90 per ram for a rebuild kit plus all the time and headache. Just not worth it especially knowing that they may just sieze again a few months down the road.

Glad you figured it out Justin! Looking forward to seeing your boat in person..:coolcowboy: