Outboard Engine Tilt Lock and Reverse Issues.

[Alex Brown]

I know the tilt-locks on engines aren't designed for use when towing (according to the manual), but how many people have problems with them failing?
Since day one of having the boat, including towing all the way back from Hull, I have always lifted the engine up, popped in the catch, and then lowered the engine down till it stops solid - this works 2 fold cos the hydraulics are holding the engine down, yet the more substantial lock is holding the engine up. Until yesterday, all was fine.....
When I got to the boat, I lifted the engine up, popped out the catch, and lowered it down to check the oil before going out. Once completed, I lifted the engine up, popped in the catch, and lowered it back down again, at which point I noticed something very odd - the lock had slide away from the bolt it sits on, and the engine had dropped down lower than it should have done. I checked this on both sides, which turned out to be exactly the same - it's like the forks have been bent in say 2 or 3mm, so now when they have force applied on them, they just slide off the bolt. Firstly, I am baffled as to how the things are bending so keenly, but also, is this as a result of towing? Last year, and the year before, I didn't use the main road once - just the short journey between yard and slipway which is not bouncy.
If this is something that's going to fail because of towing, then there should be some concerned DF140 owners about

A couple of pics enclosed as links to maintain higher res:-
http://orinoco.pembs-wales.co.uk/~al...601_090029.JPG
http://orinoco.pembs-wales.co.uk/~al...601_090058.JPG
The first pic, it looks like the rubber covering has come into contact with the engine bracket since the thing travels that far down now, and you can see fracturing of the paintwork just to the right.
In both cases though, you can see that each side is sitting naturally further in than previously on the bolts.

The other issue I have is when selecting reverse. When selecting forward, the engine goes into gear perfectly everytime, but when selecting reverse, the engine from time to time would pop out and then back in again until the lever was sufficiently pulled back similar to my last rib with a tohatsu on the back. However, now, it's jumping out of gear when in reverse all the time at idle until you increase the revs a fair bit at which point it does stay engaged. This, I hope is just an adjustment issue, but would any of this (including the tilt lock) have been meddled with on the 200hr service does anyone reckon?

Whether by coincidence or not, these 2 faults have only occured since the last 200hr (expensive) service a few weeks back.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

-Alex

[jyasaki]

First thing I'd do is contact your service guy, and see what they have to say about it. If they'll do good on the problems, then they're not much of a problem.


jky

[Alex Brown]

I have - they claim the tilt lock breaking is due to "wear and tear", and they've created a new job card to look at and fix reverse gear.......

-Alex

[Andy_Rs600]

The reverse is most likely the gear sleect cable not being adjusted quite right. It might well have been played with during service.

I've never looked at a DF140, so just from the pictures.... Have you checked the nut on the end of the axel is tight? If that were loose, it would allow play in the lock plates. Equally, are the correct washers in the right places on that axel. That could also allow play, or move the plates. Are the plates flat or bent?

[Alex Brown]

Yeah, I agree about the reverse gear issue - what's annoying me though is that they sea trialled it *after* the service and charged extra for the trial, yet somehow they completely missed the fact that reverse gear was jumping like mad..... I am not going to touch it - it's something that went in working fine, and came out not working fine.

As for the tilt lock, I haven't done anything to it, apart from take snaps - there appears to be no loose bolts or anything visible, apart from a ton of fresh grease around it. It went in in a fully working condition and came out somehow bent - you can see where it used to sit on the bolts due to the markings on them. Also, since those pictures were taken, a load more paint has flaked off.
If this is genuinely wear and tear, other DF140 owners should be looking at avoiding the use of the tilt lock to support their engine, since it could potentially give at any time
At this stage, I may have to make up some bracket or somehting that slots in there for the engine to drop onto, that way the tilt lock doesn't have to be used again.

-Alex

[Top banana]

I took mine in for a service last week and got a polite bollocking from the engineer for having the df140 trailed on the tilt lock. HE then lifted the leg and showed me the amount of play this had caused. then gave me a block of wood to wedge in between whilst trailering. so your problem has more than likely been caused with the full weight of the engine rocking about.
Hope you sort it out with not to much expense, probablly caught mine in time.

[jyasaki]

Well, from what I've seen, a lot of motors have less than robust tilt locks. On my F115, when you lower the motor onto the stop, you can see the tabs bend.

On my old Honda 40 (which did not have T/T hydraulics), the latch was somewhat less than reliable as well.

The only ones I can remember that were built reasonably solidly are on the Evinrudes; they have a large cast assembly that swings in to a mating cavity to support the motor (though, now that I think about it, I may have seen these on Merc's as well.)

jky

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

The only ones I can remember that were built reasonably solidly are on the Evinrudes; they have a large cast assembly that swings in to a mating cavity to support the motor (though, now that I think about it, I may have seen these on Merc's as well.)

jky

My E-Tec 90 has a tilt lock that (almost) keeps the leg out of the water when moored and a trailer bracket which is a flip out bit that securely locates the leg at about 45 degrees when trailing. Ribcraft told me to use the tilt lock when trailing though the manual says DON'T.

[BogMonster]

My Johnson has a seemingly fairly solid tilt lock that you lower the engine against. I think the book for mine says you should always use it when towing?

I don't use it any other time; when the boat is on the mooring I have it tilted right up (tilt lock is about halfway up I guess) to get the whole thing out of the water as it sits so low in the water at the stern, and when the boat is out of the water I have it right down (i.e. trimmed right in) to allow all the water to drain out after flushing it, which is what the book says you should do.

[Hugh Jardon]

on the merc 200 opti the tilt support lever is for holding the engine up while doing maintenance etc on the trim etc, it is not for use when trailering, the book says to keep the engine as upright as possible or tilt back to give ground clearance etc, so Nashers device could be very useful