Trim Tab operation or lack of

Tabman · Post by **Tabman** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:21 am

Thanks for all the kind words guys! I work for Bennett Marine and post about Trim Tabs on 20 or so boating forums around the net.

Let me know if I may ever be of any help.

Tom
Bennett Marine

Post by **Moderator** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:55 am

Allen Sr wrote:Hey Moderator,how about making a 'sticky' for all of this trim tab info supplied by 'Tabman'? Would be a lot easier on us to locate when needed. Thanks Moderator and a huge thankyou to Tabman!

It will be done . But I will wait for the thread quet down , before moving his posts .

Thanks Allen . And thanks to Tabman for the info .

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:50 pm

ok, went out to the boat and confirmed I have a Boat Levelor system
with the exception of the pump cover being green on mine, yours shows red, but besides that it is the exact unit,
I removed the switches from my helm letting them hang down so I can begin some t shooting. I assuming the red lead is from batt + and then black being neg,
Im going to get my test equip and begin, so far it looks like a short at some point as Im getting an aggressive spark when I try to connect pos and neg, so I will go right to the pump and use your t shooting procedure to confirm a few things,
will report back later
Im happy I made this posting,, your information is priceless,,lol

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:12 pm

ok, later has come, Looks like the motor/pump assy is bad. I dont know if this unit is serviceable , so I will remove it at some point this week, possibly tomorrow. Is there something that can be done with it? or scrap it?
I see a few of them for sale on ebay, at 250 or something like that.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:58 pm

You can repair it or you can replace it . thats your choice . It can also be replace with a benett unit if you wanted , I belive they make a kit for this or or you can stay with Boat leveler "Insta-trim" . They are both good units .

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:01 pm

Go to the pump and disconnect the plug. Using a couple of jumper wires, jump the black wire pin (plug on pump side) to ground and the red or yellow wire pin to positive. The motor should turn. Red wire is one direction, yellow is the other. If it doesn't turn, the motor is seized. And you need a motor. If it turns, try the solenoids next; black to ground and white wire pin to positive for starb side. You should here it click, if not, the unit is faulty. Check port side by jumping green to positive. All these parts are available on line.

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:28 am

thanks big D
already did that, and it looks like the motor is seized, it will be easier for me and less time consuming to just replace this unit.
its basically plug and play once its hooked up and filled.

thanks to all

larryeddington · Post by **larryeddington** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:44 am

I have disassembled the whole unit and they are pretty simple. If you do replace, keep for parts, you or someone might need a part. All new parts are available.

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:47 am

ok........ I decided to remove my pump solenoid assy and take the cover off, and see if there was something which jumped out at me. Well Im not a rocket scientist, but take a look at that nice stainless steel machine bolt thats wedged inbetween the rotating shaft/balance assy. Ummmm I dont think it belongs there. How that thing got in there Ill never know. I guess at some point someone had this thing open. So I removed it and guess what,, bingo it works as it should nice and quiet and Im happy as hell.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:49 pm

Thats good news .

Tabman · Post by **Tabman** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:59 pm

Good work! That is a first for me, in 15 years of working on Trim Tabs I have nearer seen that!

I guess I have to add "Make sure is nothing jammed in the shaft assembly'" to the Boat Leveler troubleshooting

Tom
Bennett Marine

P-Dogg · Post by **P-Dogg** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:07 pm

Discoveries like that warm your heart when you do your own work. If you had hired that out, what do you think an unscrupulous mechanic might have reported to you as the problem?

As the philosopher Yogi Bera once said, "You can see a lot just by looking."

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:43 pm

ya know thats right. I came very close to just tossing that pump assy into the garage for parts. I had no intention of trying to repair it, but it was weird the system looked like it was ready to work , there was no "cob webs" if you know what I mean. The PO told me it stopped working one day and he never looked into it. I dont know how often I will use the tabs, but I like to have everything operational on my boat. Tab man, you know if you tryed to position that bolt in that position , I think it would be impossible to get it just right on that shaft assy. there is no way to see something like that coming, and I to, having worked on many many systems on cars, have seen many things, including dead cats, snakes, rats eating ignition wires, eve a dead fish in the air intake of a car that was bought at an auction after a flood, lol , so Im really not that surprised , but this one was so strange, that when I literally touched the bolt it fell out and the pump started working again I would have to say the strangest thing I have ever seen was a customer brought me a car once that didnt start, they had it towed to me from NJ to florida, (as I work on high end cars, this particular car was a rare BMW 2002 Tii, ) anyway, this person, towed the car from NJ to my house here stating that it started fine before here husband passed away a year ago, and now it didnt want to start. Well when I got the car, sure enough it did not crank or start, so I lifted the hood assy and there was NO battery in the car,,lol.
what are ya gonna do,,,lol it takes all kinds of people. but she didnt know, so I guess it is what it is.

larryeddington · Post by **larryeddington** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:53 pm

Great, most things are re-buildable, repairable or just in bad need of an owners tender loving care (TLC)

Good work

RWS · Post by **RWS** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:51 pm

your dialing in the tabs omn that boat with the 454's will get you additional knots at a given RPM

You should also consider upgrading to the Bennett system with the additional length and the DROP FINS as I did when I was running the gassers

Made a BIG difference in getting me to .85 NMPG

RWS