Reply To: Mid-1970s 85 HP Johnson Remote Control Problem

[Don]

OK, cool, 1977 model.  The hydraulic cylinder on the left if the “trim cylinder”.  You should see one oil line connected to the bottom of this cylinder.  Yes, it does seem strange that it only has one hydraulic line, but it does work.  The trim cylinder only provides assistance trimming up to a certain range, then the tilt cylinder does the rest of the work.  The trim cylinder is basically “going for the ride” when working in the down mode, the tilt cylinder is doing all the work then.

And yes, this is the prestolite version of the pump and motor.  Trying to remove the pump assembly from the bracket is a pain because the tilt cylinder is in the way of the three mounting bolts.  You may be able to back them all out a bit at a time pushing the pump away from the bracket.

It might be easier to just remove the four pump retaining screws on the bottom though.   Find a clean container to place under there, then it is probably easiest to just lay on your back while extracting the screws, the fluid will all spill out once the pump starts to fall down from the housing.  Once it is drained, you can carefully remove the pump although you will have to remove the two hydraulic lines as well, probably best to get them loose before removing the pump screws.   Once the pump is removed, you can look up inside to see if the motor shaft has broken, or perhaps the coupling is damaged.

Keep in mind, this whole PTT assembly can be removed from the engine also, but it will require removing the engine from the transom.  Once the unit is removed, the engine will tilt up and down manually, this tilt lock lever/mechanism should still be in place, although there may be something there to disable it from locking…..