Help: how to remove cap/nut on power tilt

[Bda Blake]

Good day,
Need advice on how to slacken the nut/cap to replace seal on tilt. I have the four-studded tool but being as the boat is kept in salt water, the cap is extremely tight. Any advice on how I might slacken it? Is it advised to use any sort of heat to loosen it, as this is hydraulic and there is already fluid on the part?
Thank you...any advice is appreciated.

Blake

[rodbolt17]

first you make a tool.
take a short piece of AL tubing.
cut a section out. fit it between the tool and the top of the ram.
lower the unit to capture the slit tubing between the tool and the ram.

this will hold the tool in place lowering the chance of breaking the tool pins and damaging the cap.

you can try lightly heating the body while maintaining pressure on the breaker bar.
the object here is heat the body but not the cap.

that cap typically torqued to about 80FT pounds.

if you DO NOT maintain a positive down pressure on the cap tool while breaking it loose odds are high something gets damaged and sometimes blood loss is involved.

[Bda Blake]

Thanks a lot. Ill give that a try.

[boscoe99]

A picture might help.

PVC tubing can be used also. Get the thick walled stuff.

Make sure that whatever piston you are working on is retracted just a bit. This will remove hydraulic pressure that can make it tough to turn the cap.

These photos show the trim piston cap being removed in which case the PVC/aluminum does not have to be cut (slit). Obviously, for the tilt piston it will have to be. A U shaped section of aluminum or steel, wide enough to go around the piston shaft will also work.

If shove comes to push, after heating the cylinder with a hot air gun right below the cap, you can also place some regular ice or dry ice on the cap itself to shrink it a bit. The cylinder being expanded by heat and the cap be shrunk by ice might be the ticket to screwing the damn thing.