Trim sender repair?

tony1b2000

tony1b2000

Active Member
Oct 10, 2007
243
Salem MA
Boat Info
Carver C37
Engines
Mercury Diesel 4.2 TDI, inboards
Has anyone repaired their trim senders? Im getting an error on the smartcraft screen.
Last fall whe I just took the boat out for the season, i had my bellows changes, gimball bearing, etc.. Should have replaced the senders.
I dislike the thought of having my mechanic rip everything apart again ($1000).
What a poor design to get at the way Merc ran the wiring for these!!!
I am so tempted in running the wires a different way....
I have DTS and smartcraft

Thanks!
 
Awesome! I am looking at the picture of it now. Is there a certain way it is positioned in there? Also, is there an oring far a gasket?
I have not opened up the one I have yet.

Thanks!
 
Really all those pucks are is a rheostat, if they are not working you have nothing to loose in giving fixing them a try.
 
I replaced my trim sender last year. I looked on YouTube and decided it was better left for a pro. I wish I had tried the puck replacement first. Although I took the op to replace the bellows as well and the gimble bearings.
 
I replaced both on a 2006 260DA without pulling the drive. Turned down a 7/16 socket to make it as short as possible and used a 1/4” ratchet with a 12” extension and swivel. My wife assisted with her smaller hands at times and we did it. Took a couple of hours and done...

Bennett
 
The puck wires are inferior as well, common failure point. Untinned with a poor casing that cracks
 
All,

I replaced the internal rheostat on the starboard side. Still got a bad reading error / on my smartcraft screen. After an hour, decided to see if the problem was the port side limit switch. Yup! Very strange. Just needed adjustment. All set The port side trim limit (or what I thought was a limit) I have is a 3 wire unit. The unit does BOTH my analog and digital gauges. Perhaps through the smartcraft system. Additionally its NOT marked sender. Has no label at all.
Took the starboard side unit apart totally by removing the rheostat and both my analog and digitals works perfectly without it!.
It is wired in the back of the boat by the transom. But I bet the wires are not used at the helm...

Anyone familiar with these 3 wire units?? Are they rebuildable??
 
I believe the starboard side puck is a dummy on the smartcraft equipped boats.

The analog gauge is controlled by smartcraft as well. There is no direct link between the puck and the gauge.
 
tony1b2000 said:
All,

I replaced the internal rheostat on the starboard side. Still got a bad reading error / on my smartcraft screen. After an hour, decided to see if the problem was the port side limit switch. Yup! Very strange. Just needed adjustment. All set The port side trim limit (or what I thought was a limit) I have is a 3 wire unit. The unit does BOTH my analog and digital gauges. Perhaps through the smartcraft system. Additionally its NOT marked sender. Has no label at all.
Took the starboard side unit apart totally by removing the rheostat and both my analog and digitals works perfectly without it!.
It is wired in the back of the boat by the transom. But I bet the wires are not used at the helm...

Anyone familiar with these 3 wire units?? Are they rebuildable??
Click to expand...
 
I have issues with same 3 wire limit switch. 08, 260Sundeck w 6.2 DTS. It is reading from 0-completely lowered to 26 trailered. I cannot get it to stop at the up running height? This would be around 10 or 11 on the smartcraft guage? The 2 wire on starboard for trim limit does nothing? Will the smartcraft system stop where limit should be when raising outdrive when trimming up?
 
No. There is no stopping on the trim limit when you enter the “trailer” portion of raising the drive.

You only have “up” and “down” and no trailer button with that setup.

The only other option is to have the trim sensor programmed. You would need a mechanic with computer access.
Basically you program the trailer portion of the out drive position to tell the ECM to limit engine rpm when the drive is in the trailer range.

If you are not programmed (sounds like you’re not)
I would recommend against it. Eventually the trim sensor will go bad and this can limit your engine rpm even when the drive is down in the proper operating range.
 
My 1985 Monaco used to allow me to use trim button to raise the prop all the way up, similar to the trailer button. When I had the bellows done the marina also fixed the trim gauge because it stopped working, but now I can’t raise the prop all the way up and have to use the hard to push trailer button. It’s a pain because we dock in a shallow bay and need to raise and lower every time we go in or out.

I understand it’s probably working as it should now, but I think my grandfather removed the limiter back in the day. Is there an easy way to remove it again so I have full range of trim levels from the trim button on the throttle handle?
 
The gimbal ring has two pucks attached at the pivot point. The right side is the travel limit sensor (keeps it from moving too far) and the right side is the position sensor (displays up/down status on gauges). You need to adjust the travel limit sensor (may need to slightly turn to fully expose). It’s a simple rotary potentiometer varying resistance as it travels through the arc of the circle. You need more up travel so you will want to rotate it counter clockwise. Adjust slowly as a little movement can provide a great deal of travel. You will want two people so one can operate the trim while the other messes with the sender. If you run out of play in moving the puck you will need to completely remove it and adjust it by changing the orientation that it attaches. Oh, and if counter clockwise doesn’t work then try clockwise because who can figure these things out when you only touch them every couple of years.

Just remember the travel limit is meant to protect your u-joints on the drive yoke, gimbal bearing and engine spline. If you operate the boat at too great of an angle you will put excessive force on all of the parts and they are subject to failing.
 
Should you trim up all the way at idle like I see so many people do on a weekly basis. Will idle speed cause damage
 
Here is a document with the trim send and trim limit installation and adjustment procedure:

http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...6/&temp_hash=506e6e55f4fa3da9b01ea87d4a7389ac

As far as running with the drive in full tilted or even above the trim limit position, generally not a good idea. However, it is common to run the boat at idle speed with the drive raised above the limit, ie when beaching, very shallow water etc. Just realize that is putting strain on the u-joints -- you can usually hear the u-joints knocking when doing that.

As a side note, my Volvo Penta does not even have a limit, you have to just be aware and not over trim it.
 

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  • Trim_Sender_Install_92_12.pdf
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BillK2632 said:
Here is a document with the trim send and trim limit installation and adjustment procedure:

http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...6/&temp_hash=506e6e55f4fa3da9b01ea87d4a7389ac

As far as running with the drive in full tilted or even above the trim limit position, generally not a good idea. However, it is common to run the boat at idle speed with the drive raised above the limit, ie when beaching, very shallow water etc. Just realize that is putting strain on the u-joints -- you can usually hear the u-joints knocking when doing that.

As a side note, my Volvo Penta does not even have a limit, you have to just be aware and not over trim it.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Yes, we only use it in order to dock in shallow water. Couple questions:

- If I adjust the trim limit by loosening those screws, will it go as high as the trailer button allows for?
- Do I need to worry about affecting the trim low point if i adjust the high point, or is the low point not adjustable?

Below is a video i found which makes it look fairly easy to adjust.
 
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