Seems like just about all of us have had trouble with the tilt mechanism on our OMC boats at one time or another. The subject has come up often on the old OMC list serve (ultimate.com/omc-boats) this year is no exception. Thought I would start this post and plug in some of the good questions and advice that has come up this year. For those of you just getting started, don't dispair, once you understand what's going on they are not that bad or typically that expensive to repair. Once more, the tilt that have issues tend to be either very old or have been neglected for some time. Once you get them funtioning properly, they are pretty simple, reliable, rugged design.

• Omc Sterndrive Tilt Clutch Pack

I speak from personal experience.the first time I took my wife out in our boat I promptly directed her (a first time boat driver) directly into a shallow part of the river and ran it aground on large rocks (not pretty) but the well designed stringer with the clutch pack tilt, sprung itself up and out of further harms way so all I had to do was replace the prop with the spare I carry and we were back on our way. (once I cleared us from the rock of course). And it still raises and lowers with no issues I helped Lee Shuster (a little bit) put together a trouble shooting document a few years ago I will see if I can dig it up somewhere and post it. If any of you have any good tips or ticks, I'm sure they will come in handy for folks just diggin into their tilt system for the first time. What are the symptoms? Do you hear the click of the solenoids firing?

If not, then it's going to be wiring between the battery, switch, and solenoids. Do you hear the motor make any noise (and see the navigation lights dim)? If not, then it's probably wiring between the solenoid and the motor, a defective motor, or a poor ground to the motor. Does the motor spin freely without the drive moving (which'd point to a failed hammer-blow coupling or shear pin), or does it sound like the motor is stalled (also possible a failed hammer-blow or a seized up tilt clutch)? Have you removed the tilt clutch cover and cleaned out and relubed the clutch?

If so, be very sure you installed a proper thickness gasket under the cover - that spacing is critical for shimming the clutch and without it the entire assembly will be seized in place. Try removing the sector gear from the outdrive (easier with a friend to hold it up) and see if the motor will turn the spur gear when unloaded. Note that if the clutch is locked up, it's 'always engaged', so the tilt motor will always move the drive. If it's slipping, then the motor will spin freely without the drive turning. The clutch only exists so that the outdrive will 'pop up' if you hit an underwater obstruction - otherwise it is always engaged.

A seized clutch should work just fine, until you hit a rock and it doesn't slip. It would only be if the clutch is seized to its housing that the entire assembly will be frozen and nothing will be able to turn or move.

The only way I've found to do that is to install the cover without the gasket or shims. Can you remove your clutch from the housing (this requires taking off the cover and the snap ring on the spur gear)?

If you can take it out, then I don't see how it could be frozen (except to itself). If there is a problem internal to the clutch, then soaking it may help. If soaking it doesn't work, you can disassemble the clutch pack and clean the pieces individually, though it requires access to a press (I actually got mine apart without a press, but I couldn't figure out an easy way to get it back together without one). I'm guessing soaking is unlikely to really get solvent in there and break free the corrosion that is causing the plates to freeze together. The downside of disassembling a clutch is that you're supposed to 'break over' a new clutch back by forcing it to slip and spin a few times, but that isn't possible without modifying the spur gear to hold it with a wrench (except if you have a newer spur gear with a have wrenching flat on the end of the shaft). I didn't do this when reassembling mine, so I'm not sure if the clutch will really break free if I hit an obstruction. I think it will though - going hard on the throttle in reverse still causes the drive to pop up.

Otherwise new clutch packs are available fairly reasonably on ebay. I have a 1975 Ford 302 w/ OMC stern drive. In process of replacing rusted tilt motor after I verified electrical is all good including clutch and other mechanical. However; I noticed replacing the tilt motor that the shaft end needs work and should be removed for machining.

Do you know how the tilt motor shaft is removed? I have removed the tilt motor, spring coupler, sector gear and clutch pack. I believe all that is left to remove end cap under c-clip and brass ring gear? Any advice for removing tilt motor shaft is appreciated before I reach for the hammer? I don't have the manual in front of me, but I'd had it all apart this year and I recall it being pretty straight-forward. The shaft is in two parts, separated by the hammer-blow coupling. The outer portion can be removed without disassembling the inner section or hammer-blow coupling.

I've never had both sides apart at once - I've always disassembled one side or the other and then reinstalled it with the other side untouched. The outer section comes out from the outside of the boat. Take out the snap ring holding the brass plug in place.

There's a brass cap that holds the shaft in place - it is ejected by rotating the assembly to force the shaft out. I can't remember if you it's suggested to do this by hand or if you're supposed to do it mechanically. Since you have the inner shaft disassembled, I'd try it by hand - reinstall the clutch pack, spur gear, and cover, then rotate the spur gear (using a strap wrench, pliers (carefully), or a wrench if you've got wrenching flats on your spur gear (I believe they were added in '73 or so, but maybe only for replacement gears) to make the shaft move out and force the cap off.

You might have to shock load it a few times, but the cap usually pops out pretty easily. If this doesn't work, then you may have to reinstall the motor and everything (including the sector gear) and hit the tilt button a few times to hammer the endcap out.

Make sure somebody's there to catch the parts. I believe the instructions for doing this are in the Seloc manual, though perhaps I saw them in the dealer service manual.

Once the cap is out, you can remove the clutch again and pull the shaft out by hand using a needle-nose pliers. All these parts are fairly cheap to replace. A new shaft is $17 from boats.net.

Omc Sterndrive Tilt Clutch Pack

Roll pins are $2 or so. Look at your worm gear and see if has holes for two roll pins or only one. The replacement shafts come with two holes and I believe the newer worm gears do as well. In 1970 at least, there was only one pin and it was somewhat prone to shearing. So use two pins if you worm gear is compatible, even though it will complicate reassemble a little. I chose to stay with one roll pin, as a replacement worm gear was $100.

Note that you should use a good roll pin punch to install the pin - otherwise you will probably damage it and have it fail again a year later (that's what happened to me the first time). Sears has a six-piece roll pin punch set for $20 that I've been really happy with. The gaskets, washers, o-rings, and c-clips can also be had from boats.net fairly reasonably (though the retaining ring is $10 - outrageous!

- I keep meaning to check if it's a standard size). All parts are listed in the catalog at epc.brp.com. I assume you've already got the inner shaft out, since you're talking about having the hammer-blow coupling disassembled already. If not, I think that just comes out with a needle-nose pliers.

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