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250 drive 'fell'

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a_lab_lover
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250 drive 'fell'

Post by a_lab_lover » Sat Aug 28, 2010 7:52 pm

I'm new to power boating...and, okay...so it was not such a great day on the water today. First, I need to troubleshoot why my battery died (and left me in need of a tow!) despite a brand new alternator.

My primary concern, though is that though I lifted my 250 Volvo Penta outdrive prior to trailering this afternoon, after pulling the trailer out of the water and up the ramp to attach the tie-down straps, I found the drive in a fully down position! I lifted it by hand to secure it in the upright position with a strap for the drive home. Truth be told, there were a few big 'bumps' going up the ramp that likely caused this. My question is "what do I do now?" Why did the lift mechanism fail? Any advice on how to proceed? It's my understanding that I need this mechanism to hold the drive down while under power. Any advice much appreciated... :cry: :cry:
Brian Conklin-Powers
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'71 Lancer 19'

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Post by Wood Commander » Sat Aug 28, 2010 10:02 pm

Putting the boat in forward gear will hold the outdrive down, reverse is where you'll have a problem with it kicking up when not latched down.

I've owned a 19' Lancer with a 280 Volvo and I now own a 23' Lancer with a 250 Volvo drive, but it is a project.

Your drive should lock down when at the bottom of it's lift travel, but it is designed to pop up when hitting an underwater obstacle.
The Volvo's are great units, but their weak points in my opinion are non- hydraulic tiller arm steering that can become a little sloppy (although this is offset by being much lighter, a lot less bulkier and complicated than a Mercruiser type hydraulically controlled outdrive- unless it's a much later Volvo with hydraulics), a kind of hard to deal with electric lift motor system, and a pretty complicated latch and release linkage and mechanism.

I don't know how to set a Volvo lift, lower and latch mechanism up, But I know It's a bit complicated and that improper setup of the shift cable at the shift lever plate on the drive can cause the latch/unlatch system to not work properly.
I need to learn more about them so I can set mine up properly when I redo my powertrain system in my boat.
Bret

1953 35' Commander "Adonis III"

1970 23' lancer project

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57 chris
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Post by 57 chris » Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:14 am

My 23 Lancer had a 250 drive like Bret's and My 19 had a 270 drive, While the drives themselves are fairly bullet-proof their lift mechanisms are quirky and prone to problems. Between the two boats I went through more than one lift motor in each and had to completely rebuild one of the lifts replacing all of the bushings and bearings and the clutch mechanism. I suspect if you are having trouble keeping the drive in an elevated position your clutch pack is worn out. I'm trying to remember back but I don't recall if there are adjustments that can be made on it. All of these nice little parts are found in the housing under where the lift motor is attached.
If possible, locate a service manual for your drive. It will have step by step instructions on rebuilding and exploded views so you can make sense of the internals.
I assume you have/know about the trailering brace? There is a metal horseshoe brace that is supposed to be installed when the drive is in the full-up position which hooks into the "lock-down" mechanism and supports the drive removing strain from the lift motor/clutch while trailering. I don't know how many times I launched the boat only to find that I had forgotten to remove this thing and had to pull the boat back out of the water to remove it.
Like Bret said, your drive stays down on it's own when in forward gear but when in reverse it will pull itself up out of the water unless the drive is in the full down/locked position. Also, when in the locked position you lose the safety kick-up feature so keep your drive locked down only when in reverse.

Craig
1957 18' SeaSkiff #SK 18675 "Knot Sure!"
1958 18' SeaSkiff #SK18722 "Wreckreation"

Past projects: 1972 19' Lancer with 307 Volvo drive-Great Blue, 1968 23' Lancer Offshore with 283 Volvo drive-Narwahl
1988 FourWinns 245 Vista - Blue Ayes.

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a_lab_lover
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so what happened?

Post by a_lab_lover » Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:13 am

thanks for your replies. does anybody know from a mechanical perspective, what caused the drive to drop back into the lowered position? is the 'worm' gear likely stripped? if so, how difficult will it be to find repair parts?
Brian Conklin-Powers
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'71 Lancer 19'

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Post by 57 chris » Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:57 am

Any Volvo dealer should be able to order repair parts for you. It's possible that the worm or mating gear could be stripped or like I mentioned before, the clutch could be the culprit.

Craig
1957 18' SeaSkiff #SK 18675 "Knot Sure!"
1958 18' SeaSkiff #SK18722 "Wreckreation"

Past projects: 1972 19' Lancer with 307 Volvo drive-Great Blue, 1968 23' Lancer Offshore with 283 Volvo drive-Narwahl
1988 FourWinns 245 Vista - Blue Ayes.

It's good to have wood!

a_lab_lover
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Post by a_lab_lover » Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:21 am

thanks, Craig. i do have a shop manual for the drive and even though there are several enlarged, numbered diagrams, there doesn't seem to be an associated description/part names for the numbered parts.
Brian Conklin-Powers
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'71 Lancer 19'

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Post by rgmxk22 » Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:23 am

Hi I just saw this post and wanted to add my thoughts. I have a Volvo 270 drive on my XK22 which is very similar to your 250 drive.

I agree with the info posted here about the lift system on a 250/270/280 drive. The trailer bracket is a must when hauling your boat down the road, even if it is a pain to get into place and remove when launching.

To why your drive fell, it is probably in the clutch assembly of the lift system, but one cause not mentioned here is the spring that is part of the clutch system. It kind of reminds you a a valve spring from an chevy small block engine, but but shorter and fatter.

If that spring gets weak, the clutch will slip and cause the drive to drop. It could be a worn gear, but I've had a few of these lifts torn apart and usually the gears are in good shape. So I'd look at the clutch itself and if that looks good, suspect the spring. In fact, when I've had these lift torn down, I've replaced the spring as a wear part figuring that if it isn't bad, it will go bad soon and cause me trouble down the road.

Also, if you still are looking for the parts diagrams/explosions, I believe you can bring those up at Volvo Penta's website.

Ron Michael
CC XK22
Ohio
Last edited by rgmxk22 on Mon May 16, 2011 9:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.

a_lab_lover
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Post by a_lab_lover » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:22 am

Ron: Thanks for your reply. I was able to use the lift mechanism to re-lift the outdrive with the boat on the trailer (after I mustered up the courage to try!).
Coincidentally, I took my Lancer in for winterization this past weekend (remember...this IS Maine) and spoke to my mechanic, who is the local Volvo-Penta service expert. It seems that the rough conditions of the ramp (bouncing the outdrive up and down) did, in fact, simply push the clutch mechanism back to the lowered position. So it appears that I dodged a financial bullet on this occasion with no significant permanent damage to the lift mechanism resulting. :P
To be on the safe side, going forward, I plan to support the outdrive wit a rope once I have the boat trailered and pulled out of the water, but prior to driving all the way up the launch ramp.
Brian Conklin-Powers
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'71 Lancer 19'

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Re: 250 drive 'fell'

Post by 71Lancer19 » Tue Sep 23, 2014 2:01 pm

Hey guys, I know this is an older post, but I have the same problem. Good info here, but I have a couple open questions.
  • After reading the service manual for the 250 and the operator's manual for the 280 (for some reason I can't find an operator's manual for the 250 on Volvo's site), it seems like the retaining pawl is intended to lock the outdrive into the lower position based on the position of the lift mechanism. The exact position is based on how much time you have the lift motor operating. All the way down is locked, lifting the motor for approx. 2 seconds from locked will unlock, and obviously if you keep going the motor will lift. My assumption is that a similar procedure should be done for locking the outdrive to the trailering bracket, although the operator's manual does not go into nearly as much detail for this procedure. Are my assumptions here correct?
  • Assuming I'm correct, it sounds like my retaining pawl or clutch mechanism on the lock is not tuned. There is a procedure listed in Part VII of the service manual that outlines how to adjust the lift and lock mechanism
  • When I purchased the boat a couple months ago, the two aft interior supports for the trim adjusting pin were broken off. The pin can still be held in place using the outer supports, but my adjusting pin was slightly bent, indicating that the supports are required to keep the pin straight at higher speeds where there is more force on the pin. As such, I have moved the pin to the forward position (this is the position intended to counter-act stern heavy handling). Not a significant concern at the moment, but I do get more splashing on the nose in choppy water than I'd prefer. Now, the question I'm asking here is, would those interior supports impact the functionality of the trailering bracket? When there is no weight on my bracket (outdrive is up), the bracket drops down, which is exactly what happened when my outdrive fell after hitting a bump. If those supports were not broken, would the trailer bracket behave differently?
  • Until I get a chance to tune the lock mechanism, assuming that is in fact the problem, I've placed a heavy bungee cord around the back of the outdrive and connected to the trailer, which exerts a strong downward force on the trailer bracket. The idea is that if I hit a bump on the trailer, the outdrive is less likely to pop up, let the trailer bracket fall, and then cause the outdrive to hit the ground. Does this sound like a reasonable solution? Should I just invest in a "transom saver" bracket connected to the trailer for added insurance?
Lots here, but this is a particularly important problem for me to solve, since I store on trailer and drive to lakes in the Seattle area. Thanks for any help you can provide.

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Re: 250 drive 'fell'

Post by Ollon » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:06 pm

If you could post a couple photos of exactly which pins etc you are mentioning it would help. The lift system on these outdrives is the weak link and very touchy. You have to do whatever you can to protect the outdrive. Don't ever rely on the lift doing what its supposed to do.

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