sillette sonic outdrive leg reverse mech.

[tabernacleman]

tried alsorts to ensure the lock stays on but when reverse engaged the leg still kicks up, the horseshoe shaped gismo that goes over the bar has been replaced, and replaced again back to original, the gismo that pushes via a cable from the cockpit fits flush over this horseshoe bracket but it still kicks out, now resorted to fitting another gismo in the cockpit which prevents the morse cable from moving and this stops the horseshoe bracket from moving, but does anyone know the secret ingredient I am missing from the bottom end, cheers, boat in water of course!

 

[wotayottie]

cant help you without photos to remind me what it looked like but I can assure you that the system does work. if its not doing so for you then its faulty rather than just "they all do that".

sorry I appreciate thats not much help.

 

[Scillypete]

I had lots of fun with that on the Prout that we had.

There should also be a spring on the horseshoe bracket, Its hard to tell from your description if the arrangement is exactly the same, but there can't be much difference between the models as it is a fairly agricultural bit of engineering. When reverse is engaged does the pin come out above the bracket to stop it from moving?

 

[Scillypete]

Watch this it may be of some help or not as the case may be

 

[boatmike]

I am currently refurbishing mine and have it on my bench at home. You may simply be missing a spring but be aware that there are several versions of the lock.
As fitted to the Prout it has what they call an "autolock" which sounds like what you have. The horseshoe yoke that clips over the pin is held in place by a spring but this spring is not meant to lock the horseshoe. To do that you have, on the autolock version, a pivoted arm with two claws on it that has a stainless steel bar on the left hand side of the mounting when looking forward at it which should have a spring on it identical to the one on the horseshoe. This spring holds the claws in place and stops the horseshoe rising. When you lower the unit the horseshoe will rise when it hits the pin and push the claws back against spring pressure until the horseshoe drops into place over the pin. The claws then snap over it to lock it under spring pressure. It should also have a cable attached to the lock bar so that to lift the leg you have to pull the cable which pulls the claws back and allows the horseshoe to rise and the leg to lift. There are other versions but this is the most common.
The most common faults are.
1. The whole issue is corroded and stiff and wont move easily.
2. Barnacles or crap behind the yoke stop it going home properly.
3. Spring broken or missing on either the horseshoe or claw arm. (I think the one on your claw arm might be missing)
4. Corroded or stiff cable stopping the claw arm from returning properly.
5. A combination of the above!

Frankly these are fairly agricultural bits of gear and need a lot of maintenance to keep them working right. The design is weak in a number of places. On mine I did a crash stop putting the engine in reverse when training crew on MOB. The left hand cast arm that carries the cross pin fractured, the pin twisted and released the lock, the leg crashed up and broke the upper casting pivot arm clean off. Examining the fracture I found that the bracket that holds the clamp arm is screwed to the bottom of the casting through exactly in line with the cross pin meaning that all the reverse thrust is taken on a very small remaining section of very poor quality casting. The main casting where the swivel lug is, is full of blow holes and has very little cross sectional area. I have machined up a large solid aluminium replacement for both broken parts which bolts in place now and will probably outlast the rest of the crappy thing.
The lessons are.
1. Take it apart (not just grease it externally) every year at the end of the season. Grease all pins with waterproof grease. They are all 316 stainless in aluminium and corrode horribly otherwise.
2. Don't crash stop with it. It's simply not designed to take stress in reverse.
3. When down and locked try a gentle burst in reverse to ensure its locked before using any throttle.
4. Never raise the leg unless it's central. When on either lock you can break the steering arm (another story)
Good luck and if you still can't figure it out PM me. I am entirely sympathetic to anyone who has one of these bloody awful things and can usually figure out what's wrong... Good luck!

 

[tabernacleman]

Thanks everyone, the unit has both springs intact although the one holding the claw which is supposed to lock down the horseshoe gismo and operated by a bowden cable is a bit stretched, just gotr a new spring and will see what that does, the whole unit moves very freely,and is well greased up (probably makes matters worse) while on the hard I had the lock gismo welded up and ground back to a perfect fit over the horshoe clamp and was amazed when it all went peasr shaped. Any way I have come up with a temp solution which involved making a hinged locky thing which fits to the cockpit and when pressed over the end of the operating cable prevents that from coming out, which of course prevents the other end from going in, and that prevents the bracket from being lifted up!! My drawing from SAilette shows a straight bar locking the horsshoe as opposed to a 'claw' maybe next time out I will go down that road. Very disappointing though when the cost of this sssssssetup is considered and how important a reliable reverse is when entering berths etc.
will post some photos soon.

 

[boatmike]

If both springs are intact you should not have the problem. The spring on the horseshoe being stretched should have no effect assuming the horseshoe works OK at all. The critical one is the spring on the claw. Either this is fitted wrongly or something does not fit as it should. In fact the spring should be quite strong requiring a really good tug on the cable to move it. Ensure the claw is free on its bearings and goes home over the horseshoe with minimal clearance on both claws. There are normally spacers fitted under the mounting bracket that the clearance is adjusted by. Make sure they are there and that the claws and horseshoe mate properly and the operating face of the claw is not worn to a taper or bent.