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OMC 800 help

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shawnstreeter

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I'm new to these outdrives I just bought a 1981 eagle sterling 25ft boat 350 engine and omc 800 drive. The tilt quit working which i see is normal on these. I have yet to look into the cause. Will be working on that tomorrow. The boat was running on the lake the day before just fine then the tilt wouldn't work maybe the motor. What worries me is that with a little force i can lift and push down the drive from locked down up to trailering height without taking off the moon gear. Is there something in this motor that will keep the drive locked in the low position? I took it out on the lake for a second lowered the drive by hand but went into reverse fine but when i went to go to forward the drive came unlocked and lifted its self up i imagine from the propellers force. So what is it that keeps them locked together in the down postion. Thanks.
 
shawnstreeter said:
went into reverse fine but when i went to go to forward the drive came unlocked and lifted its self up i imagine from the propellers force.
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I think you have that backwards.... it will raise in reverse, not fwd...

What keeps it down is a friction clutch inside the tilt housing. Some had an allen head screw that would adjust the clutch friction externally.
 
Yep first get a manual seloc # 3400 in the upper right hand corner.

Heres a post i wrote copied and pasted here.

o you have a stringer out drive that won't tilt up, or it tilts up very slowly, or you need to help it up physically. Maybe it doesn't move at all.

Here is a step bye step guide to fixing it. A manual would be very helpful.

1- A fully charged battery is imperative.

2- Disconnect the battery and clean the battery posts. Are the cables good?

3- With the battery disconnected, clean all the connections on the port side, solenoids. Don't forget the grounds.

4- Clean connections to tilt motor. Two wires.

5- Connect the battery.

6- On the out drive port side, there is a clutch housing. Four screws hold on
cover. Pull that cover. May be full of water. They all leak.

Two things you can do at this time.

A- Clean out the housing with clutch installed.

B- Remove the clutch and rebuild the housing. New seals.

If you chose A, Spray the clutch with brake cleaner. Make sure it's as clean as you can get it. You might have to spray it a few times. Blow it dry. Spray the the clutch with penetrating oil. Pack the housing with grease, and install cover. Don't over tighten the screws, can bind the clutch.

If you chose B, remove all the components of the gear housing. Soak everything in Acetone overnight. Rebuild housing, new seals. Blow dry the parts, soak them all in motor oil for a hour or two. Install parts. Pack the housing with grease. I know it calls for 30 weight motor oil. Trust me pack it with grease. Install cover.

7- Gently pry off the rubber bumpers. Don't mix them up, pump grease in the zerks. Install bumpers.

At this point the drive should move up and down easy. If it doesn't, you need to pull the tilt motor. Test motor and replace or rebuild. Make sure the hammer blow coupler is good or replace. Don't forget the gasket, on the tilt motor. .

Above will help you get to the point of finding out the condition of the clutch pack.

Good luck!
 
I also couldn't get my drive to lift or lower. I'm not sure if yours has this but mine has a male/female connector plug thats under my dash under where the steering wheel is. I racked my feeble brain for hours tracing wires checking everything over thinking I had a short or something like that somewhere. Basically by accident I found this connector, not knowing what it was for, unplugged it checking for corrosion, etc, re-connected it, and amazingly I was able to lift and lower my drive like before. Now the thing is I didn't find this plug listed anywhere in the wiring diagrams I studied and not mentioned in the bible at all. Mine is a '78 but it should be pretty similar if not the same drive set-up as your '81.

Also keep in mind OMCs have several solenoids (mine does anyway) it could be in there to.
 
what i was trying to say was that the drive will not lift or lower by the switch which is a problem i will address on its own. what worried me was that i am able to lift and lower it by hand with some force without removing the moon gear. I did try running it in the water like this by simply pushing the drive down by hand i was able to go in reverse for about a minute but when i went to go to drive it wouldn't work the cables need adjusted and the drive itself came apart and lifted itself away from the gears and was up towards the trailer position. so even if the cables didn't need adjusted it wouldn't have gone anywhere because the drive wasn't down. i was just wondering what keeps it in the down position. is it the electric motor that maybe bad that keeps it down and locked in?
 
The clutch housing has a sorta motorcycle clutch it it, thats what keeps it up or down, you will have to open the housing and look and do what i posted.

I posted it it applies to your problem also, but look at the little gear that moves the half moon gear, do you have a plastic plug in the end of the shaft. If yes you can take out that plug there will be a allen head screw in there that screw will allow you to increase the force of the clutch plates in the clutch housing. If you have it that is .
 
If i look at the gear from the outside the clutch housing it has a bolt going through it and its not its not that tight. should i tighten it and see if that helps? And if i open the clutch cover do i need a new gasket for it. I'm sure it needs cleaned out since that seems to be a normal problem just hope it doesn't need replaced cause i can't seem to find replacment clutches or prices. the thing is also stuck in reverse so it would seem the cables must need adjusted as well. one thing after another lol.
 
your truly a wealth of knowledge and i do appreciate it very much so where might i find one of these rebuild kits if thats what it needs i'm hoping all it needs is just cleaned out and hit with brakleen but with my luck it will need a rebuild. also do i need to replace the gasket when I take the cover off to inspect the clutch and the bolt that holds the small gear that works with the moon gear can i tighten that to adjust slip or does it have to be the plastic plug u were talking about? by the way just for my information does anyone have a pic of the hammerblow coupler just so i know what it is when i'm looking at it after removing the tillt motor.
 
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so i took the boat to a shop to check some stuff out today found the problem of why its stuck in reverse. the push pull cable that goes in to the drive has some hols in the plastic coating that is allowing the wire to come out and bind so they say it has to be replaced they quoted me 500 and some odd dollars for the cable. anyone know where you can get one cheaper or what the cable is even called. or is this just the normal price he said only one place sells the cable that just seems really expensive for a cable.
 
no just the cables alone are like 540 and then around 200 to 250 to have it installed. that just seems really high for a new cable. plus if i have them check out the tilt motor and fix the clutch pack i'm looking at somewhere around 1000 to 1100 for the repairs
 
That's what the cables cost- but make sure they get the right one - 1981 was a transition year from hydromechanical to full mechanical, and some hydromechs were converted later - so you need to get the right part.

Make sure the boat is worth throwing money into... tilt clutch parts are pricey too unless you luck out with used
 
Been seeing clutch packs on ebay one there now. Cable also, post a pic of the drive sideways we can tell you exactly what you got.
 
I'll post a pic as soon as possible. The mechanic said my drive is actually an 82 model and the boat is an 81 he said it was better.
I'm actually checking into having a custom cable made for it as it seems to me that the price of a new or used one for that matter is just crazy.
The place i've spoke with has made cables for submarines so I imagine they are capable of making this cable and they said it would probably be stronger than original and shouldn't cost more than 200.
The mechanic has a new cable in stock which he said the rubber housing on this is stronger than the old originals. Guess i just don't see the point
in buying a used one on ebay for 200 or 300 dollars like i've seen them going for just to find out its bad or goes bad shortly after having it installed if i can have a stronger one built for the same price.
Any opinions or has anyone ever built their own or had on built or any other options.
 
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