Tilt trim pin stuck

1990 Johnson 90 hp. I need to replace the trim motor. I can not get the top pin loose. I have tried heat and pb blaster. I put the motor in the up position and put the brace on to hold it in place. I released pressure off the pump. Using a 3 pound hammer and punch does nothing. Any ideas? Thanks

Right now it still works, but the casing on the trim motor is rusted through, so I'm sure failure is imminent

Yeah, we know!...... Heat, a hefty punch, one hellava hammer seems to be the way to go.

Joe said it all !!!

Let me begin by saying that I have not worked on many outboard. I am a tool maker by trade, and currently work in an auto assembly plant. Removing seized pins on cylinder rods is a common condition that is dealt with. We use a port-a-power with a fabricated fixture to push pins out with a slow steady push. I realize you probably don`t have access to such equipment. I mention it to stress the "slow steady push". Pounding on the pin with another pin and hammer is very likely to swell, or mushroom the pin you are trying to remove... making it even tighter in the pin bore...making it even more difficult to remove.
As a possibility I would do this....drill a hole into the headless end of the pin. Drill it deeper than the thickness of the bracket "ear" that that end of the pin is in. Then use successively larger drill bits until the hole is close to the diameter of the pin. The larger the hole the better/easier it will drive out.
Of course, using this method will require a new pin.

Your advice is sound "Tool Man", however the problem is that the pin is held in two housings separated by a clearing where the swivel portion end of a tilt cylinder with nylon bushings exists.

The pin is approximately 3-1/2" or 4" long (guessing back through the years) with a very short section extending outside the brackets that contains a retaining pin on each side. This setup has existed for many years and why grease fittings have never been installed there is a mystery to me.

As such, you can see that drilling that pin out, which has no doubt been done due to necessity from time to time, would be a major PITA!

Joe, the only thing I wasn't sure of on drilling the pin was how the casting looked on the port side of the bracket. I just went through a reseal on my 89 Johnson 50hp trim and tilt cyl. I was fortunate in that my upper pin pushed out by finger pressure only. I just bought this boat from an old guy I know and it has seen very little use, just abuse from sitting in his garage for years. The upper pin on mine has a head on the starboard side and the retainer pin on the port side. With that said, I wasn't sure if there was access to drill from the port/left side. Mine has some sort of electrical component on the left side.....looks like it might be a limit switch possibly??? As far as the void in the bracket, where the rod end is located, I was aware of that. I was thinking that the pin is most likely seized in the aluminum bracket casting and not in the rod end bushings as they are fiber or plastic of some type. I was thinking that if he were able to drill from the left side, only to a depth to clear the left side bracket, that that would relieve MUCH of the surface that has the pin seized in place. You don't have to drill to the full diameter of the pin, and probably wouldn't be able to do that without getting into the bracket itself anyway, but drilling it to close to the pin diameter would relieve much of the tension. That way, you're essentially fighting only half the tension/force holding the pin.

T00lmanii said:

I was thinking that if he were able to drill from the left side, only to a depth to clear the left side bracket, that that would relieve MUCH of the surface that has the pin seized in place. You don't have to drill to the full diameter of the pin, and probably wouldn't be able to do that without getting into the bracket itself anyway, but drilling it to close to the pin diameter would relieve much of the tension. That way, you're essentially fighting only half the tension/force holding the pin.

Click to expand...

With that explanation, I'd give your plan a shot if I was still a working man as it is logical. However, being right handed, I'd be swinging a hammer from right to left, therefore I'd be drilling into the starboard side of that pin.

If anyone tries this, let us know how it works out for you.

About 10 years ago, I was stuck at the same place you are with the same engine model, riopga. Joe Reeves gave me the same advice he gave you. I got a brass pin about 1" in diameter from the well-known discount tool store. The mushrooming will occur on the brass pin, not your pivot pin. I heated up the bracket with a propane torch around the pin in an attempt to get the bracket's holes to expand more than the stainless pivot pin.

Keep beating on it, it will come out. Good luck!

I'm going to try more heat and penetrating oil for a couple of days, but if that doesn't work I will give the drilling a try. I have another pin to replace it with. Thanks for the idea.

Starboard to port eould not have worked on my 89, as the starboard side of the pin has a head on it.
Riopga..... you might try a pneumatic hammer if you can borrow one. (If you don't have one) Here at work, they dometimes do the trick where swinging a hammer does not. Might be due to the rapid hammering)
Myself, I would still try drilling out one end of the pin to relieve the "grip" of at least that one end.

I wanted to give closure on this for future readers. I got it out! I used a lot of heat, and I sprayed a mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid as a penetrating oil. It was very effective. Still took a lot of hammering, so be patient. As always, thank you for all the advice and help.
Now I have to drill out a broken bolt ( 1 out of the 6 that hold the tnt on) and I'll be ready to install the new unit.

Thanks for the update, and what ended up working. I am in the same situation and this thread will be a big help.