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270 stern drive will not lock down into place

C

chrisclean

New member
just bought bayliner cant get the stern drive to lock down , it will go up but will not lock down. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem is ? CHRIS
 
Hi Chris

Aside from this being a well covered topic elsewhere, I can give you some first hand experience. I have just had an exchange 280 drive (very similar to yours) put on my boat. The idiots I got it from supplied me with a drive that had come from a twin engine set-up and would have originally been a left handed rotation drive. These drives can be used in either rotation by simply taking the shift cover off and transfering the mechanism to the other side of the shift selector on the drive, but you need to be careful with regard to the gear shift selector in the cockpit. See your seloc manual for details.

However, the drive for my single-engined boat is right handed rotation, but the volvo penta main dealer, whom shall remain unnamed, did not spot that the replacement unit used to be a left hand rotation drive. They installed the gear shift mechanism in the wrong direction for reverse lock to work properly.

I.e. when I was going forward the drive was completly locked down (so if I hit an object it would not kick up as it was meant to) and when I selected reverse the drive would pop-up out of the water as it was not locked down. The reverse locking mechanism was operating the wrong way around.

If the boat is new to you, check out the set up on the gear selector at the rear and look to see if it matches your seloc manual diagram. Many of these older boats have had the drives re-built or replaced with nefarious components.

One word of warning, do not drive it in this condition as you could cause serious damage to the universal joint and drive coupling in the bell housing if the drive keeps kicking up in reverse. You will also not be able to stop in an emergency!! I talk from expensive first-hand experience!

Dan
Windy 22 Sport VP AQ200D 280 Drive
 
DO NOT SHIFT REVERSE UNTIL YOU FIX THIS PROBLEM! You WILL break the steering helmet! When the boat is out of the water climb under the drive and look at the mechanism. The springs are all probably broken or missing. With patience you can fix this yourself. Get a diagram.
 
Chrisclean, Ditto Chris (docksidemarineservices) re; not reversing until this is corrected.
This may cause damage if it were to abrutly slam upwards.

Again, please read the Vault thread!
Like said, I could post all of this here for you, but most of what you'll need is covered in that thread.

******************************************

Dan, just a friendly FYI for you:
There is no RH/LH AQ series drive, per se', until we make it so by changing the "driven gear" selection that becomes FWD gear engagement.

Any shift into FWD involves extending the shift cable at the actual drive, regardless of prop hand.
IOW, the shift cable will always extend and tilt the bell crank unit (SEQ #2 below) AFT for FWD gear engagement.

(if someone were to change the shift unit so that it retracts the cable for FWD, you will have problems!)


Conversely, it will always tilt the bell crank (SEQ #2 below) forward for Reverse gear engagement.
This is when the coupling rod (SEQ #3) is pushed forward into the lock brace (SEQ #45 below).
(ONLY during Reverse engagement will the lock brace become depressed).
And again, regardless of prop hand.


NOTE: When a drive is fully down, the latch hooks will always remain engaged with the "set pin".
Only difference is that the lock brace is depressed when reversing.
The lock brace prevents "over-centering" of the latch hooks (aka latch pawls, SEQ #'s 50 & 52) in the event of excessive reversing power (the same force that may occur during an impact, but minus the lock brace function).


Any change to the linkage arm causes a change ONLY to the rotation of the eccentric piston and the selection between the upper and lower "driven gears".
  • CW movement for FWD when running a LH prop or the Duo Prop lower unit (i.e., lower driven gear).
  • CCW movement for FWD when runnig a RH prop (i.e., upper driven gear).
The shift control unit, the shift cable, the coupling rod, lock brace and Reverse Latch won't know (nor care) which hand prop is being used!

acf6e1.gif


There is another change required, and that's the orientation of the torque fin/torque tab for either prop hand.
The OEM manual makes a suggestion for a starting point via a torque fin/torque tab angle suggestion.
Be sure to adjust this as to releive steering torque and stress on the steering components..... even if equipped with power assist steering.


.
 
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boatmaddaddy said:
Hi Chris

Aside from this being a well covered topic elsewhere, I can give you some first hand experience. I have just had an exchange 280 drive (very similar to yours) put on my boat. The idiots I got it from supplied me with a drive that had come from a twin engine set-up and would have originally been a left handed rotation drive. These drives can be used in either rotation by simply taking the shift cover off and transfering the mechanism to the other side of the shift selector on the drive, but you need to be careful with regard to the gear shift selector in the cockpit. See your seloc manual for details.

However, the drive for my single-engined boat is right handed rotation, but the volvo penta main dealer, whom shall remain unnamed, did not spot that the replacement unit used to be a left hand rotation drive. They installed the gear shift mechanism in the wrong direction for reverse lock to work properly.

I.e. when I was going forward the drive was completly locked down (so if I hit an object it would not kick up as it was meant to) and when I selected reverse the drive would pop-up out of the water as it was not locked down. The reverse locking mechanism was operating the wrong way around.

If the boat is new to you, check out the set up on the gear selector at the rear and look to see if it matches your seloc manual diagram. Many of these older boats have had the drives re-built or replaced with nefarious components.

One word of warning, do not drive it in this condition as you could cause serious damage to the universal joint and drive coupling in the bell housing if the drive keeps kicking up in reverse. You will also not be able to stop in an emergency!! I talk from expensive first-hand experience!

Dan
Windy 22 Sport VP AQ200D 280 Drive
Click to expand...


When I had my boat re-engined, the mechanic who did it ( wife said I was getting too old to do engine swaps by myself), who claimed to be a Volvo expert, did much the same thing. The previous owner changed the prop to a RH prop and when my mechanic did the re-engine he changed the prop back to a LH with a better pitch but he changed the "rotation" at the helm, not the drive. When I picked up the boat and noticed that the drive kicked up when in reverse and brought it to his attention, his response.... " OH, yes, I noticed that. The parts in the latch mechanism are worn and no longer available ( a lie!). You'll have to buy the center section used or on line... That will run you about $600 to 700. Labor to swap out the parts will bring it to about $850. A good project for this winter!" I did not use the boat for several months (it sat in its slip). One day I got to thinking and when the tide was high and I could reach the cover from the dock, I raised the drive and removed the cover and LO!!!! the link was on the wrong side. Instead of $850, it cost me $.35 to fix it ( I dropped the SS cotter pin into the drink). It only took a few mins to swap the link, but because of its location and my aging back, it took me an hour to fix the foulup at the shifter.

Its an easy fix at the drive ( be sure to go thru the adjustment procedure in the manual while you are at it) and depending of the location of your shifter, somewhat longer to reverse the "sense" of the shift cable at the helm. The sooner you do this the better. If you have the right dockside environment, you will only get your hands wet. On a trailer its a snap.
 
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Yep! Ditto Capt Bob!

I'm continuously amazed at what some so called v/p mechanics are capable of doing..... and these are generally the simplest and easiest drives to work on!


FYI: about the only parts that require replacement, and are still available, are the two latch hooks, the single return spring, and the lock brace coil spring.
Most of the other parts either do not wear out, and/or are easily available used.


Occasionally the pivot requires removal, as to simply clean and free things up.
Great time to replace the lower needle bearing/seals, and the upper suspension fork/pivot tube bushing.

.
 
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