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On trailer engine testing with 270 outdrive

am_dew

am_dew

Advanced Contributor
Something that has nagged me for many years is "Do I need to have the outdrive (a 270) lowered all the way in order to run the engine while the boat is on the trailer?". On my slopped driveway, I have always had to lower the tongue of the trailer all the way down in order to be able to lower the outdrive into it's full down position.

Can I leave the outdrive up and still run the engine as long as I always keep the drive in neutral without doing any harm to the outdrive and/or connecting components such as u-joint, etc.?

Thanks!
 
The issue with the drive up/down is the "bending" of the universal joints when raised... Best run with drive down. For best boot life, store with drive down.
 
The engine can be run at idle speed with the drive trimmed up into the tilt range.

Question is, what type of testing are you trying to do? It is better to trim the drive down, even a little. I think the max steering angle of an AQ is 30 degrees... Max Tilt is 60 Degrees.... So if you can trim the drive down to the 30 Degree angle you can test with no worries.

The owners manual will explain this....

CAUTION!
Never exceed 1000 RPM when operating the drive unit
in the tilted position, because it may damage the drive
system.
 
Last edited:
Docksidemarineservices said:
The engine can be run at idle speed with the drive trimmed up into the tilt range.

Question is, what type of testing are you trying to do? It is better to trim the drive down, even a little. I think the max steering angle of an AQ is 30 degrees... Max Tilt is 60 Degrees.... So if you can trim the drive down to the 30 Degree angle you can test with no worries.

The owners manual will explain this....

CAUTION!
Never exceed 1000 RPM when operating the drive unit
in the tilted position, because it may damage the drive
system.
Click to expand...

Thank you. The "on trailer testing" I do is just for general maintenance purposes such as warming up the engine before an oil change, or just needing to run the engine for some reason. I also posted this same question in the Bayliner's forum and Ricardo answered and had basically the same comments. I will play it safe and lower the drive all the way as I have always done.
 
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