Hi everyone, hope your all geting a feed of fish, I need some info, for my trim ram, that I have on the bravo 3, leg, it is a star board ram, has numbers on the outside, Mercury 98718,
the ram has locked up on it, I have tried looking on the net for the same ram, but I am geting diferent numbers, also can anyone tell me if I try to undo the ram, do turn it clockwise, lefthand thread or antie clockwise, righthand thread.and is it worth reparing it or buying a new ram. thanks cheers Don
its hard to measure the length of the ram, as it is stuck in the cylinder, the ram diametre is 19mm or 3/4", the cylinder is about 11 3/8"long 290mm to were the cap unscrews. the cylinder is not totally round, but is close to 49.5mm just under 2", we had it installed new in 2011. as I said in the first post the number on the out side of the cylinder, is 98718. cheers Don.
Counter clockwise to unscrew it . See if these help you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox722c6_n58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK-mX7x5GNw
I am preparing to rebuild a pair of the same rams, not sure what number they have, but the Mercruiser rebuild kit is the same for Alpha and all Bravo rams. Mine are not seized but I managed over the years tototally strip out the threads and break off some stainless screws in the zinc holes. I have to replace the end caps and since I have to remove them to replace the end caps, I bought complete rebuild kits. And I bought these great new quick change zinc system for the rams. I'll photograph the kits and part numbers for you so you'll know what to get to totally rebuild them. I'll even take pictures of the rebuild process, the only part that is tricky is if you remove the entire cylinder assembly and it can be tricky to re insert. I won't be getting to them for about a month but I can get you the part numbers for the rebuild kit and the rest of the parts I am using in short order if you want?
As for wethere or not it is worth rebuilding them please consider.
1. If the chrome shaft is rebuildable it will cost less than $100.00 for the kits to do the job, a new Mercruiser replacement is more than $500 for each one.
2. This is all predicated on the assumption that the shaft is indeed rebuildable, meaning it has no deep scratches or scars or corrosion that has eaten into the sealing portion of the shaft. If it's no good I'd look at used or aftermarket rams. If the shaft is good and you can rebuild a Penn conventional 4/0 reel, you can rebuild these rams.
This may help .
https://www.amazon.com/SEI-MARINE-PRODUCTS-Replaces-Cylinder/dp/B00FYZSMXI
No experience with aftermarket Rams, but I know SEI is big in the Mercruiser aftermarket and they make replacement stern drives and related componenents for much less than Mercruiser. As to how they operate and hold up? I have no idea and while I am always into savings, I am sceptacle of prices that are 25% of factory OEM, that's just me though I do not know about these but I have looked into them myself. I opted to rebuild mine before looking at replacing them.
Thanks Joe and David, very helpful, I will work out how or what I do after I get it apart, cheers Don.
To David, Joe and everyone that this may interest, my latest ram & cylinder update, I made up a jig to undo the collar, from the cylinder, the collar came out of the cylinder okay, then there was a cup that was left in the cylinder, I managed to get some info, from a mercruiser agent in Perth, he told me to use air presser to get the cup out, of the cylinder, so with my leading apprentice, Patricia, holding a plastic bag around the cylinder, I place air hose, over the intake end & the cup popped out so easy, what a lovely wife Patricia is, they do come in handy some times, ay, I cleaned the cylinder out & it looks great inside, so now to get a kit, the closest mercruiser out let, price for one kit AU$192.00, just for the kit, so now I am thinking, could any Hydaulic outlet make up a kit that would be good for salt water, cheers Don.
Further progress, as the collar was not turning on the ram, I took the complete unit to a Hydraulic, repare out let, he dismantled it, then told me that the seals had come apart, & there was metal inside the collar also some metal gouged out of the in side of the collar, the ram was good, but it was of set, so maybe bent, anyway I paid him for his trouble, that was much less than I expected, then I went around the corner to a mercruiser agent, the same one that quoted me $192.00 for the kit, anyway, I told them that I had pulled it apart, & the collar was in bad condition, also that I thought the ram maybe bent, so he looked at it & said the rams were offset anyway, so all good, he said the cylinder was all good, & I would not have to buy a complete new unit, as I could buy a new collar, anyway he gets out a new collar, with the kit already installed, So I say, I get all my services done here, & I am a broke old pensioner, so how much costs, he looks @ the computer, then said how would AU$192.00 the collar & kit all up, so that made me feel 10 years younger, more news coming when I get it all back together, cheers Don.
:) Glad you are able to fix it. joe
That would be awesome if your taking pictures. I bought replacement end caps with the seal lists installed for 117USD for both cylinders. Haven't touched them yet as my trailer is down, and the boats in the water.
Doh!
Thanks David & Joe, more progress today, I smoothed the ram rod with wet & dry sheets, started with 800, then 2000, & finnished of with 2500, cleaned it all up, then started placing it all togetherthe collar was hard to get on as there is a scraper rod in the middle of the collar, I had to hold that scrapper rod to one side, with a small screw driver, as Patricia, held a piece of wood on the collar & hammered it down, had the rod protruding through the collar abot 150mm, 6", I was concerned that the collar was to tight, so I rang the outlet I brought it from, they told me that is okay being high pressure hydraulic they have to be tight, after some use the the collar would pivot on the rod, so we placed it all together, then up down a few times to bleed it, and it seems to be going good, I have to get the boat & trailer out of the shed, then back it into an area where I can get the leg down lower, wont get it done tomorrow buggar, have to go out with My mate and pull the rock lobster pots, cheers Don.& many thanks to all.
Received a nice email from Don (Donnyboat) yesterday, asking me to post a few photos in this forum. Take it away DON!!!!
"Hi Wayne & Jenifer, we hope your both keeping well, & maybe the weather is improving for fishing, Wayne could you please, enter these photos on the forum under my post about the trim cylinder & ram, & I will explain to every one what is what, after you have entered them, thanks pal, you both keep well, Wayne we went out two days in a row, to pull the lobster pots, caught 2 lobster, have one pot caught under the reef, have to get some one to dive for it, in 13M of water, I used to dive 20M regularly but could get cramp now so I not real keen on it anymore, cheers Don & Pat."
From: Don Walton
Sent: Saturday, 13 April 2019 10:49 AM
(https://alantani.com/gallery/27/7588_13_04_19_4_21_17.jpeg)
(https://alantani.com/gallery/27/7588_13_04_19_4_21_37.jpeg)
:) I like your spanner wrench !!
Thanks Wayne for posting the photos so quick for me & the members, yes Joe a spanner or jig, as you can see, part number 21 is a cap or I have been calling it a collar, it has 6 hole in it, 4 of them is to undo it, & the other two with threads are to attach the anodes, to the cylinder or cap, so the ram is 19mm 3/4" wide, I cut the U shape out @ 21 MM, then drilled the three holes, I then placed the blunt end of the drill bits through the jig & into the cap, gave the side of the jig a tap with the hammer, it soon came loose for me to undo it, the cap or collar has most of the kit seals & O rings in it, I went out with the boat on Friday, & the trim worked really good. so there you David, a walk in the park, cheers Don.
I just got my trailer back from the shop today. New bearings and seals, new rotors and calipers, new electric actuator, no more hydraulic at all. New tires all around, new wiring and led lights, new winch. Cost me a ton of dough and I won't make the mistake of parking it across the street from the boat launch again.
I'm waiting for shipment of a replacement wobble roller and I will be ready to pull the boat out and tackle the end cap replacement. These Mercruiser end caps are Aluminum and the zincs are attached with stainless machine screws. Very very easy to strip the aluminum threads in the end caps and end up like mine. Couldn't install new zincs on the ram cuz the screws wouldn't tighten and in a hurry to complete the work I got careless and broke the stainless screw off in the end cap. So now I got the new end caps to install.
And best of all!
I found an aftermarket kit that acts as a new zinc mounting block on the end cap. It attaches to the end cap with the two screws and remains there forever. Your replacement zinc has a North on one side that slides under a tab on the new base and then locks down with one stainless steel machine screw into a stainless steel threaded insert in the base. So your never going to trash those soft aluminum threads again and your only replacing one screw to attach one zinc on one ram, repeat for other ram. I don't know how to post a link but I'll post pictures as I go through this. The big question is what are the rams going to look like after being in the marina for 3 months with no zincs on the rams? Hoping they're still okay but it could prove challenging.
Bought the Sierra kita and new end caps and quick change zinc kit from Sea shield marine. They have a base plate that attaches to the end cap mounting with two screws where your zincs would normally attach. Then your new zinc attaches with one screw into a stainless steel insert. Got the rams apart Easey peasey.
The new parts installed and back together ready for paint. While working on them I blew a hole in one of the hydraulic lines. Upon closer inspection all four had weakened to the point of bulging just in front of the fittings and we're at risk of blowing under pressure, so a new set of lines was ordered from SEI. Mercruiser wanted over 400 for the set and the SEI set was 105. Also the bushings were cracked and deformed so a new set of 16 of them was ordered.
Nice work David,
It really does show the corrosive conditions our boats operate in and how much maintenance is involved as well.
Enjoying your up dates.........
Col
After rebuilding the rams and replacing the hydro lines, I got back in the water for testing and all worked excellent, except for the new overheating issue. at troll speed I had normal temps but as soon as I stepped on the throttle to cruise the temps would shoot up, so I shut it down, tried again and same thing, well after about 100 hours of tearing things down to inspect, from the cooling water seacock to the exhaust mixing elbow all was good. I replaced every hose and clamp on the engine earlier this year. No problems there, started looking into the closed cooling system and all looked good there also. Someone recommended I do a pressure test on the cooling system, if it loses pressure just a matter of tracking down the leak, might be external might be internal. rented tester from my local auto parts and the tester itself leaked, so I purchased a test kit of my own that came with a guarantee that the test equipment would not leak. pumped the system up to 11 PSI and held for 30 minutes without losing any pressure. decided to test my radiator cap and discovered it would only hold 5PSI before it opened up and lost pressure, my engines system is designed to operate at 13 PSI. Bought a new 70 dollar themostat and problem solved, then I noticed a knocking sound coming from my sterndrive. its only 4 years old and has a few hundred hours Bravo III XR didn't sound normal so I took it into the shop that installed it and they opened the upper case and found both topside bearings are shot. in his 50 years of working on outboards and stern drives he has never seen this before. got the new bearings installed and today he busted the lower case open to inspect it and found every cooling water passage is plugged with marine growth, mussels and sea grass, he thinks it was impossible to get any cooling water through it. So I view this as good news too. no cooling could explain why the upper case bearings burned. Maybe another week and I will get it back. Just in time to take it in to the boat cover shop to get a full boat cover fabricated, then its off for a full hull cleaning polishing and sealing and detail, then I can cover it up and park it for a few weeks before getting one last rock fishing trip on it this year. of course all this work is really cheap, or its free? NOT my boat is spelled with two Ts, BOATT.