Hydrogate difficult to 'shift'

[bdisney3]

Noticed some difficulty - mostly going from "vert" to "ramp", but not the other way. Noticed there are plastic "washers" between the screws that hold the metal plate on the transom exterior. A couple of mine look worn/cracked - I've ordered replacements from nautiqueparts.com. Anything else to check/adjust/etc?


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[swatguy]

When your talking "difficult ". What do you mean? Hard to push in to place with lots of tension? Is its getting hung up? Are you doing it while the boat is moving at wake speeds or just on the tailer?


It's not going to be a smooth one finger push , it has some deployment points. It will get "tougher" to adjust while at Wakeboarding speeds. It's completely normal to have difficulty going from vert to ramp because your are engaging the "gate". It's now taking all the water pressure and building more pressure as the gate goes all the way to ramp. That pressure also pushes the gate to mace more metal on metal contact.again increasing friction to get it to ramp. It will take some effort to get the gate from vert to ramp when loaded up with weight and moving at Wakeboarding speeds.

Unless your gate is getting hung up and won't deploy or retract some stffness is good

[bdisney3]

Getting hung up even when not moving and/or on the trailer. Hoping plastic "washers" fix and there's not another issue?


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[migs]

hmmmm - i dont think its the washers...the cable maybe hung-up on something?

[nukemustang]

When I picked up the boat, they had to partially disassemble and lube the end of the cable where it connects to the gate. the prev. owner must have just left it in one position and it had some corrosion built up right at the point the cable left the sleeve, preventing it from being able to slide in and out of the outer jacket freely. They shot some lube up the cable jacket, cycled it a few times and reassembled it and it has been fine ever since then.

[bdisney3]

When I picked up the boat, they had to partially disassemble and lube the end of the cable where it connects to the gate. the prev. owner must have just left it in one position and it had some corrosion built up right at the point the cable left the sleeve, preventing it from being able to slide in and out of the outer jacket freely. They shot some lube up the cable jacket, cycled it a few times and reassembled it and it has been fine ever since then.

So - I think this is/was my problem. In Engine compartment I was able to back off the "nut" that holds the cable to the thru hull - however, two half-washers (metal) fell out and I can't figure out how they go back in? They are the half washers pictured here (image from Nautiqueparts.com):

There was definately some corrosion in there - got it cleaned out and can now freely move cable/shifter. Just need to figure out how the half washers go in? The o ring and full washer are around the cable (behind the large nut pictured). The half washers go in there too, just not sure if before (closer to back of boat) or after (closer to front of boat) the o ring and flat washer? Anyone?

[nukemustang]

I wish I had been paying more attention to the mechanic that was doing it, but I am not sure. did they fall out immediately after removing the nut? I would assume they are a split washer just meant to spread the force of the load from tightening down on the nut to the o-ring and keep the o-ring from being pushed back out via water pressure.

[bdisney3]

Yeah - just fell out. Think I figured it out. O-ring nearest to transom, then flat washer, then split washer (two halves). There is a groove that the split washers fit into nice and snug. Hope it's right! Helped to remove engine divider on Port side to get to it, btw.


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