Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

A conversation among Whalers
Meaty
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Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:28 am

Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby Meaty » Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:38 am

[I am] new to boating. I was trailering with [a 1985 Evinrude E25RLCOS engine] tilted up all the way. Part # 329498 Tilt lock support snapped. I ordered a new one: $50 for a piece of metal. Geez.

Do I trailer with the engine all the way up?

Right now the motor is resting on the shallow water drive, part #324444.

Can I trailer the boat while the engine resting on that?

Can I maybe use a block of wood?

Thanks.

jimh
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Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby jimh » Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:14 am

Meaty wrote:I ordered a new one: $50 for a piece of metal. Geez.

As a new boater, you will need to become less concerned about the $50 cost of an OEM repair part for a 33-year-old engine.

The OMC engines usually have a very nice support bracket to mechanically support the engine in a tilted-up position for trailering. The is a great feature. It takes off the stress on the hydraulic trim and tilt actuator. I don't have any good data about the frequency of repair for that metal bracket part. I would expect that fracture of that part would be very unusual.

I am curious to learn how that metal part broke on your engine. When you were trailering the boat, was the trailer support arm used as recommended in the operating guide?

The usual method for using the trailer bracket is to tilt up the engine with the hydraulic actuator, pull the trailer support arm out and into the operating position, then to lower the engine down, letting it bear its weight on the trailer support arm. In this way the engine becomes locked in place against the trailer support arm.

I would not expect the trailer support arm to fracture if properly used. I would be concerned if the bracket were pulled out into operating position, but the engine was not tilted down to bear against it. In that situation the engine could fall down and hit the bracket if exposed to some sort of jarring road conditions and the hydraulic tilt-trim actuator could not hold up the engine. If the engine were allowed to repeatedly bounce and bang against the trailer support bracket, I can see how the bracket might be broken.

Of course, it is possible that there was a manufacturing defect in the support bracket, say a small crack, and it has taken 33-years of use for the defect to become sufficient to cause the part to fail. I don't know how likely that is, but it could happen. However, I think it more likely that some unusually strong impact of the engine falling onto the support bracket may have created a dynamic load that exceed the part's strength.

Meaty wrote:Can I trailer the boat while the engine resting on [the shallow water drive]?


There are several methods to provide support for outboard engines in a tilted-up position when the boat is on the trailer. These methods are usually used with non-OMC engines, because the OMC engines already provided for that function. Since I have no experience with these after-market devices, I cannot offer any advice about them. They do seem to be popular with boaters that have non-OMC engine that do not provide a trailer support arm in the engine mount.

Meaty wrote:Can I maybe use a block of wood?


A piece of lumber like a 2 x 4 can be used as a temporary method to support the engine in a tilted-up position when on the trailer.

Meaty wrote:Do I trailer with the engine all the way up?


Depending on the particular boat, engine, and trailer, the engine may not need to be moved to the fully tilted-up position when trailering. If there is sufficient ground clearance, you may be able to tow the trailer and boat with the engine in a more vertical position, and depend on the hydraulic trim-tilt actuator to maintain it in that position.

I used to trailer all my boats with the engine in an almost vertical position. There was sufficient ground clearance with the skeg of the engine to the pavement, so it was not a concern--except in certain situations where you might have to go through a particular down-and-up segment of pavement, such as a driveway with crossing a deep ditch. Keeping the engine in an operating or vertical position was useful with older engines that used carburetors. Tilting an engine to almost horizontal will usually cause all the gasoline fuel to spill out of the carburetor bowls, leaking into the engine cowling pan, and leaving an oil residue. Also the empty carburetor bowls make the engine difficult to start.

Meaty
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Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:28 am

Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby Meaty » Fri Sep 21, 2018 2:44 pm

[The trailer support on the engine] broke while I was driving. When I got home, noticed the engine was [supported] on the shallow water support. No hydraulic tilt, all manual.

Trailer support arm, like a motor support bracker?

I don't have one, should I install one?

No operator manual, looking for one.
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jimh
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Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby jimh » Fri Sep 21, 2018 4:10 pm

Meaty wrote:...Trailer support arm, like a motor support bracker?


I don't understand your question. If you are asking what I meant by the term "trailer support arm" I can explain further.

By describing the device that extends from the mounting bracket as a "trailer support arm", I was trying to describe a mechanical support, somewhat akin to a human arm, that extends outward from the engine mounting assembly, like a human arm extends outward from a human torso, in order to support the engine in a tilted-up position when the engine is being hauled on the highway on a trailer. This device is part of the engine mounting bracket, not an added on device separate from the engine.

If you think that "motor support bracker [sic]" is more descriptive, I would suggest perhaps "engine support bracket for trailering" might be even better.

On your particular engine, I recommend you read the operating guide to see if the part that fractured is actually intended to be used as a support for the engine while trailering. It may be that the support is only intended to hold the engine up when the boat is at rest on the water, and using it on the highway is an inappropriate use of that bracket or arm or engine support or trailering support. If that were the case, then the fracture of that part while trailering the boat might not be all that unusual.

The operating guide will be the best source of advice about how to use that arm or engine support and if it is designed to sustain the stress of highway travel. If the operating guide does not specifically call for its use in trailering, then I would infer that it was not intended for use in trailering. Your engine may need to be supported for trailering by some other method, such as one of the several aftermarket trailer support arms available. But, again, I can't offer any first hand experience with them.

Generally Evinrude literature is available on-line at no cost, but I don't know if those excellent resources extend back to engines made 33-years ago. Try

http://www.operatorsguides.brp.com/

But I think those resources only go back to c.2004, which is when Bombardier Recreational Products became the owner of the then-bankrupt Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) who was the manufacturer of your 1985 outboard engine.

Meaty
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:28 am

Re: Use of Tilt Lock While Trailering; Direct Knowledge Solicited

Postby Meaty » Fri Sep 21, 2018 5:32 pm

Do I use tilt lock support while trailering?

If anyone has direct knowledge of this 33-year-old motor, your input would be appreciated.

goldstem
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Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2015 12:57 pm

Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby goldstem » Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:37 pm

I had the Johnson 35-HP version of that engine, also on a 13- foot Boston Whaler. I always trailered with the engine tilted up because there usually wasn't enough clearance from the road with it tilted down to make we comfortable. On long, highway-only trips, I would put the tilt pin out to the last hole, and let it ride on that. But I never doubted the tilt lock on mine. The engine wasn't that heavy.

I did break the tilt lock—a much different mechanism—on my 1980 Evinrude 140. The tilt lock was rusted and corroded, and away it went.

Jadoca
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Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby Jadoca » Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:13 am

[Below is a URL to a website for a product that only works on engines with three hydraulic power trim and tilt actuators—jimh]

http://www.m-ywedge.com/products.html

jimh
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Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby jimh » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:10 am

I don’t believe the engine under discussion has three hydraulic power trim and tilt actuators.

Jadoca
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Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 4:08 pm

Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby Jadoca » Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:16 pm

Jadoca wrote:[Below is a URL to a website for a product that only works on engines with three hydraulic power trim and tilt actuators—jimh]

http://www.m-ywedge.com/products.html


Not so. Look again at the website. They have one specifically for the single ram Mercs along with most if not all outboards. I use one. Great product.

jimh
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Re: Tilt Lock Support While Trailering

Postby jimh » Wed Sep 26, 2018 8:38 am

The engine under discussion has zero hydraulic power trim and tilt actuators. Not withstanding the quality of the product, if the product has no application with the engine under discussion, the suggestion to use the product is not likely to be helpful for the engine being discussed.