I'm blessed in many regards. I understand and am fluent in things computer. I understand and am fluent in things electronic. I understand and am fluent in things mechanical. I understand and am successful in catching things that live in the sea.
Rarely does a problem come up that I won't first try to tackle and fix myself. It's usually cheaper, I know the job is done right, and it's bonus points on my Man Card with the Admiral. I fix her car, my car and truck, and do all my own maintenance on my boat. I'm sure many of you guys are exactly the same. I've always felt sorry for those sort of wussy guys that haven't the faintest clue about how to change a spark plug.
So, blessed manly-man that I am, I set about what seemed like a simple enough job - changing the seals on the power trim and tilt on my 225 Yammies. One motor had been leaking a fair amount of tranny fluid on the boat pad, and then stopped working. I mean, c'mon, how hard can it be? I can see the seals right there in the end cap of each the trim cylinders. Piece of cake! (not)
Real men do read the manual and that's where I started. Looked through the procedure for rebuilding the trim and tilt unit. Examined the parts list -- looks like the seals just fit into the end cap and are held in place with a metal clip. Ordered up the seals and new metal clips.
Parts arrive, let's do this! Hmmmm. The end caps are gonna have to come off. That's okay, I have this two-prong spanner wrench that I've used countless times to replace the seals on my Seastar cylinders and it fits the Yamaha end caps. WTF?? Did they weld these things in place? A little more leverage on the spanner wrench. Well, it was a nice wrench while it lasted. End caps still firmly in place. Skin on knuckles only slightly damaged.
I guess they weren't kidding about needing that "special tool" Y1B whatever. WHAT? $175 for a spanner wrench? Google, google, google... that's better... $75. Still outrageous, but obviously there's no getting this job done without it.
Tool arrives, we've got it whooped now! End caps still seem welded on, but adding that pipe to the ratchet handle for more leverage doesn't turn the Y1B tool into a complete pretzel. The 1st end cap succumbs to my repeated cursing and breaks free. Victory is at hand!
Now, remove the seal from the end cap. I manage, after repeated attempts and more cursing, to get the little wire ring out with no major damage to myself or the endcap. The seal itself? Fugidaboudit. Ain't no way in hell to pry that seal out the end cap. I end up cutting the damn thing apart with a small set of cutters, and with a great feat of manly strength, a pair of pliers, and yet more cursing, rip the bastard free from the vice-like grip of the end cap. Only minor damage sustained to the end cap itself. Doh! There's got to be an easier way! Let me think...
So, while thinking, let's check out the trim cylinders. What in the hell is this orange-colored goop in the cylinder? Why gee, I guess if there was fluid leaking out, maybe there was water leaking in? Yup. The unit stopped working because it was hydrolocked. Remove other end cap and yet more sludge of once pretty pink transmission fluid dribbles itself over the edge of the cylinder onto the ground in a lifeless blob. What a mess. Pull the piston rods, clean out all creeping sludge, doesn't appear to be any rust or corrosion, thank god.
Finally, a brain-fart. Instead of trying to replace the seals in the old end caps, why not just buy new end caps and put the seals in them? Back to the Internet. Boats.net flashes a "You AGAIN?" message as I look up and order the parts.
New end caps arrive. Now I'm cooking! Go to put the new seals in them. Another WTF moment. Damn, these things are pressed in or something. I lightly oil the inside of the end caps and try as I might, the damned seals just do not want to go in place. A-haaa! Another brain-fart. Take a socket that's outside diameter is smaller than the hole in the end cap and gently tap them in with a plastic mallet. Oh yeah, this works! Insert little wire clip thing, good as new! Repeat process three more times.
Re-insert piston rods (now with new o-rings). Add a little fresh tranny fluid and install new o-rings on end caps, screw into place. Remove brass bolt from reservoir to fill with fluid. More WTF. The threads on the brass bolt fall off in my hand when I take it out. Pull the brass bolt on the other motor, same thing, threads fall off. GAAAAAH!!!
Boats.net now has three gold stars next to my username as one of their "Best Customers Ever!" Look up and order new brass bolts. And o-rings for the bolts. Wait a few days, presto! New bolts! Fill up the reservoir, and try the unit. Slow at first, but expected. The service manual said you need to run it all the way up and down, purge the air, refill and to do this three times before topping off and sealing. What the service manual fails to tell you is that once you get the motor down off the locks, it may not want to go back up again. Which it needs to do in order to reach the brass bolt and add yet more fluid!
Hello neighbor? How's your back? Good? Good! C'mon over here and help me hoss this 225 back up to its fully upright position! I tried, ain't no way I was doing it myself. Refill, close the release screw, it's working better. Add more fluid, run it up and down again, sounds better, works like brand new! Yes, another job well-done!
I realized that, even though I may have saved myself a bundle of money, I'd never make it in this world as a flat-rate mechanic, given the amount of hours I spent fixing the damned thing! And of course, not having access to parts just drags it out further. But damn, I DID IT and IT WORKS RIGHT! Go me. :notworthy:
PS - Anybody wanna buy a slightly used trim/tilt end cap tool??
Rarely does a problem come up that I won't first try to tackle and fix myself. It's usually cheaper, I know the job is done right, and it's bonus points on my Man Card with the Admiral. I fix her car, my car and truck, and do all my own maintenance on my boat. I'm sure many of you guys are exactly the same. I've always felt sorry for those sort of wussy guys that haven't the faintest clue about how to change a spark plug.
So, blessed manly-man that I am, I set about what seemed like a simple enough job - changing the seals on the power trim and tilt on my 225 Yammies. One motor had been leaking a fair amount of tranny fluid on the boat pad, and then stopped working. I mean, c'mon, how hard can it be? I can see the seals right there in the end cap of each the trim cylinders. Piece of cake! (not)
Real men do read the manual and that's where I started. Looked through the procedure for rebuilding the trim and tilt unit. Examined the parts list -- looks like the seals just fit into the end cap and are held in place with a metal clip. Ordered up the seals and new metal clips.
Parts arrive, let's do this! Hmmmm. The end caps are gonna have to come off. That's okay, I have this two-prong spanner wrench that I've used countless times to replace the seals on my Seastar cylinders and it fits the Yamaha end caps. WTF?? Did they weld these things in place? A little more leverage on the spanner wrench. Well, it was a nice wrench while it lasted. End caps still firmly in place. Skin on knuckles only slightly damaged.
I guess they weren't kidding about needing that "special tool" Y1B whatever. WHAT? $175 for a spanner wrench? Google, google, google... that's better... $75. Still outrageous, but obviously there's no getting this job done without it.
Tool arrives, we've got it whooped now! End caps still seem welded on, but adding that pipe to the ratchet handle for more leverage doesn't turn the Y1B tool into a complete pretzel. The 1st end cap succumbs to my repeated cursing and breaks free. Victory is at hand!
Now, remove the seal from the end cap. I manage, after repeated attempts and more cursing, to get the little wire ring out with no major damage to myself or the endcap. The seal itself? Fugidaboudit. Ain't no way in hell to pry that seal out the end cap. I end up cutting the damn thing apart with a small set of cutters, and with a great feat of manly strength, a pair of pliers, and yet more cursing, rip the bastard free from the vice-like grip of the end cap. Only minor damage sustained to the end cap itself. Doh! There's got to be an easier way! Let me think...
So, while thinking, let's check out the trim cylinders. What in the hell is this orange-colored goop in the cylinder? Why gee, I guess if there was fluid leaking out, maybe there was water leaking in? Yup. The unit stopped working because it was hydrolocked. Remove other end cap and yet more sludge of once pretty pink transmission fluid dribbles itself over the edge of the cylinder onto the ground in a lifeless blob. What a mess. Pull the piston rods, clean out all creeping sludge, doesn't appear to be any rust or corrosion, thank god.
Finally, a brain-fart. Instead of trying to replace the seals in the old end caps, why not just buy new end caps and put the seals in them? Back to the Internet. Boats.net flashes a "You AGAIN?" message as I look up and order the parts.
New end caps arrive. Now I'm cooking! Go to put the new seals in them. Another WTF moment. Damn, these things are pressed in or something. I lightly oil the inside of the end caps and try as I might, the damned seals just do not want to go in place. A-haaa! Another brain-fart. Take a socket that's outside diameter is smaller than the hole in the end cap and gently tap them in with a plastic mallet. Oh yeah, this works! Insert little wire clip thing, good as new! Repeat process three more times.
Re-insert piston rods (now with new o-rings). Add a little fresh tranny fluid and install new o-rings on end caps, screw into place. Remove brass bolt from reservoir to fill with fluid. More WTF. The threads on the brass bolt fall off in my hand when I take it out. Pull the brass bolt on the other motor, same thing, threads fall off. GAAAAAH!!!
Boats.net now has three gold stars next to my username as one of their "Best Customers Ever!" Look up and order new brass bolts. And o-rings for the bolts. Wait a few days, presto! New bolts! Fill up the reservoir, and try the unit. Slow at first, but expected. The service manual said you need to run it all the way up and down, purge the air, refill and to do this three times before topping off and sealing. What the service manual fails to tell you is that once you get the motor down off the locks, it may not want to go back up again. Which it needs to do in order to reach the brass bolt and add yet more fluid!
Hello neighbor? How's your back? Good? Good! C'mon over here and help me hoss this 225 back up to its fully upright position! I tried, ain't no way I was doing it myself. Refill, close the release screw, it's working better. Add more fluid, run it up and down again, sounds better, works like brand new! Yes, another job well-done!
I realized that, even though I may have saved myself a bundle of money, I'd never make it in this world as a flat-rate mechanic, given the amount of hours I spent fixing the damned thing! And of course, not having access to parts just drags it out further. But damn, I DID IT and IT WORKS RIGHT! Go me. :notworthy:
PS - Anybody wanna buy a slightly used trim/tilt end cap tool??
