Way2slow

I installed my HDS-5 in the dash on the console, the HDS-10 on a Swing Arm Ram mount off to the side, and the HDS-7 on the bow, using the built in TM transducer when looking straight down and networked with the sidescan when I want to use that. My boat came with a round, flasher unit in the dash panel so I had to make me another panel from some 1/4 aluminum and to make room for the HDS-5 to mount in the dash panel

Opps, I should have taken the binders off. The name Ranger gave me tunnel vision and I automatically associated that with the "REAL" Ranger, didn't notice we were talking tin cans. No, unless it a tunnel hull designed for shallow water, I would not spend the money on a hydraulic jack plate to go on an aluminum boat with a 75hp motor, almost a total waste of money. Spend that on upgrading your electronics or something else it would be more useful on.

If I was buying a new $40K boat, I would have the hydraulic jack plate for sure "if you are wanting peak performance". Boat's generally come out of the hole better with the motor down, but ride better and run faster with the motor up. With a manual jack plate, you have give a little on one end or the other, usually the hole shot. Hydraulic also take a lot of work out of having to get the right height dialed. Don't depend on it be dialed in perfectly when you get it. To many variables for most dealers to spend the time getting that right. Now, four inches is not a lot of extra set back, and Ranger may have enough built in setback they feel that's all the extra you need, and that may the all they will warranty their hull with. So if thinking of going for more, see what Ranger has to say about that first. Nothing like voiding the warranty of a brand new boat by using more setback than the authorize.

This is called manufactures trying to avoid law suits Lead acid batteries have sulfuric acid in them and can give off explosive gases when over charged or charged at a high rates, created the potential for it to exploded by the spark sometimes created when connecting/disconnecting the a charger. If you accidently reverse the polarity (connect the cables backwards) it's possible the charger could cause a short circuit that could cause the battery to explode. Just like if you are trying to jump off a car and connect the jumper cables backwards, or pull the stunt some people do, arcing the negative and positive together to see if it has plenty of spark. These are all conditions that can cause a battery to explode when conditions are just right, though it usually does not explode, but it can and has happened many times. Just to protect their butts, they a telling you to do this to make sure you are clear enough to avoid injury and head turned so you can't get acid in yours eyes if it did. Does anyone really do what they recommend, if so, they are a rare breed, because most just connect the charger to the battery and go on their merry little way. I've dealt with thousands of batteries in my life, I have had a couple to explode during that time, do I do what they recommend, NOOOOOO! Just make sure you charge it with the caps on it, you connect the cables before turning on the charger, and I recommend give it about an hour after charging to settle before disconnecting the cables, just in case it has given off some gases, the spark you sometimes might get when disconnecting the cables won't ignite them, (still, this is a rare occurrence but is possible). Oh, and if you are charging it in an enclosed compartment/space, make sure to leave the compartment open so it can get fresh air.

Ok, we are on the same page then. Wow, that's a huge amount of money for a rebuild. Definitely, DO NOT run that gas in an HO, hopefully, it still is. The problem is most think an HO is just an upgraded 225, and the powereheads are the same, so if they get another one, they get a 225, and you come out on the short end of the stick. The fact is, the HO is a actually a 250 powerehead they put 225 decals on. The exhaust port is timed different and a lot larger than the 225, so if they you lose about 20 hp if they use a 225 powerhead.

How much did it leak out? Yes, most likely you can refill, but you would want to do so with electrolyte, since it leaked out, and not just dis tiled water. When a battery looses liquid normally, it's through evaporation, so they only lose mostly water, so you just refill them with distilled water, but when turned over and it leaks out, it loses the acid, and if you just add water it's running at a diluted state, making the cells that lost it weaker. However, with that said, if you lost a lot of the acid, you have significantly reduced the life of the battery, but they probably have the caps under the label so you will damage the label and they would know you opened it and void the warrenty. So, now you have to play a little poker with it. Does it last until just after the warrenty and then gives out, so you wish you had added electrolyte when it first happened, or do you wait and see if it goes bad while there is enough warrenty to make it worth swapping it out, using the warrenty. You migh want to see just how the warrenty works, most of the time, after much more than a year, the way they prorate them, it really does not save you much, if any money to use the warrenty. You should have six round disc in the top of the battery with slots cut in them. If so, these are flush mounted caps and can be removed by turning them a 1/4 to 1/2 turn CCW wth a large screw driver or a quarter held with a pair of pliers, You only want to fill them to about 3/4" from the top. The funny part is, some companies say you should check/refil them but the the seller will void the warrenty if you remove the caps. The main difference between maintenance free and regular batteries is the amount of electrolyte they hold, the MF has smaller plates so it can hold more. That's why you see MF batteries have lower capacity numbers than those you can service. The next trick is going to be finding a small amount of electrolyte, the last couple of times I've bought it, I had to get in a container that's several gallons, which I use a fair amount of it anyway.

I had a friend the used five 225 to 250hp motors commercially. He usually replaced his every three to four years, based on down time and repair cost, He wanted very little to none of both so when one or two started having problems, he swaps out all five. His motors typically had about 2,000 or more hours on them when he swapped them out and had motors that never needed anything more than their routine maintenance during that whole time. I haven't been in touch with him for a few years, but from 1998 until 2009, all he ran was Evinrudes and you could not give him any other motor. Don't know what he as done since then because our paths don't cross anymore. He may have changed over to four strokes now, that they are a lot better than what they were years back. Some of the numbers I'm seeing posted may be accurate, but they give me reason to wonder. 15 to 20K that's equivalent to two to three years of 24/7. Now, granted the more an engine is run at long intervals, the longer it will last because it's the heat up and cool down of an engine that causes the most wear. Once they reach a stable temp, there is very little wear. The families local grocery getter that most trips are only a few miles is not going to last anywhere near the miles as a vehicle that's driven long trips and run for hours at the time. I worked as service tech on industrial equipment for about 15 years and had numbers of fork lifts that were run almost 24 seven on propane and were well maintained, and by 15,000 hours, there were not many engines had not been replaced or had major repairs done to them. In commercial applications we used to base an engine with 100 hours as being equivalent to an automobile having 3,000 miles.

HOLD EVERYTHING!!!!!. He said this is a fairly new boat and motor, just how new are we talking? We may be mixing apples and oranges here. I'm under the assumption we are talking the two stroke, 3.0L 225 Johnson. He may be taking a lot newer than I'm thinking and be talking about the 225 Four Stroke Johnson.. If so, I'm gonna have to bow out and say forget everything I've posted, other than dump the gas and purge the system several times with SeaFoam, and still look at changing the water pump impeller. I have never even laid eyeballs on a 225 Four Stoke, so I wouldn't even know what it was if it didn't have the cowling on it.

Well, I almost hate to say this, but I see you are in Tennessee, and I'm only a few hours south of you. You sound like a nice Christian type person and I'm a sucker for helping someone if I can, and would offer to do the work for you at no charge, but you would have furnish the parts. We do have a small problem with trying to make that offer. I will be leaving for south Texas the second week in Jan and won't be back probably until mid May and not sure we could make it happen that quick.

Well, I'm not real sure about a mechanic that says that gas would be just fine to run. I've never used StaBil, I only use SeaFoam, so don't have any experience with StaBil. I know in my home backup generator I have run gas treated with SeaFoam that was almost a year old, but a Honda Four stroke is a Totally different animal than your 225 Johnson. I honestly will not run gas, even treated with SeaFoam, that's over a couple of months old in my outboards, and especially one as sensitive to bad gas as your motor. For me, it's a no brainier to dump the gas, purge the fuel system, check all fuel and oil lines for hard/brittl lines that should be replaced, clean/rebuild the carbs, and replace the water pump/impeller. The big difference is, it cost me less than $100 in parts and a few hours of my time and you are probably looking at over $600 - $800 to do the same thing, and then hope it's done properly. I know everyone has been concentrating on the gas issue, but a water pump that has sat that long is subject to be as bad as the gas you are concerned about. Anything less and you are rolling the dice. You haven't said what model year you have, but the 93 and newer models have a cooling issue that causes #2 cylinder to run 50 degree higher EGTs and #5 about 30 degrees hotter than the others, so low water pressure from a weak water pump, only increases this problem. If you did a search, one of the most common failures of these engines are no. 2 cylinder blowing. This is related to the cooling issue. I always do a cooling mod on mine that balances the cooling, OMC knew of this mod in 1996, because a friend of mine that was a OMC factory backed racer developed it and gave it to to them. However, it was not until the introduction of the 3.3L motors his mod was incorporated. If you do run it, and it's not running perfectly, especially at full throttle, don't keep going, thinking it will clear up.

Well, lets see now, I'll soon be 68. I'm very good with computers also, I've probably built a 100 since 1984 when I built my first one. I started modifying my first two strokes about 1960, two MAC 8 chain saw engines I ran on my Go-Cart I raced back then. Got into circle track dirt racing micro midgets at 13 and Drag racing cars at 15, couldn't drive them on the road (legally), but could race them. Got into outboard boat racing in late 60's and moved up into Modified Sportsman car racing about that same time. Still building and modifying all my own engines and drive trains. I'm a pretty good machinist, a very good gunsmith, and a very good shot with long guns (rifles and shotguns), not that great with pistols. I have a number of rifles I've built that easily shoot little bitty five shot groups at 500 yards and one hole groups at 100. I have a degree in electronics with about 45 years experience in that. 22 of those years were in the military, where I got to play in the swamps on Fort Benning for my Ranger Rocker, and play with the Special Forces at Ft Bragg several times (the funny part about those two, I was in the Air Force). Now, I don't have a clue as to what all that has to do with what kind of a mechanic I am. I do know I have a 20ft Javelin bass boat that runs over 80 mph (loaded) with either of two of those same 225hp Johnson's he has, I've built and modified. They dino over 325hp at 6,300rpm and almost 300 pounds of torque at 4,500. I have been building a modifying the 3.0 Johnson's for about 15 years, so I know my way around that motor very well. So, usually when I say something about them, it's from experience. I have a five gallon bucket full of burnt pistons and a number of destroyed blocks laying around that are all from 3.0 Johnson's getting too lean. If you are lucky, it just messes up that one sleeve a little and you can have that one bored and just put one new piston in. If not so lucky, you have to put a new sleeve in also. If unlucky, it breaks or bends the rod and jams it though the block in places that can't be welded back, requiring another block, meaning a new motor for most, because the cost of repair at that point would be way to much it you had to pay someone. But I'm still curious what you do with your carbs if you don't believe in rebuilding one. After all, he doesn't have your mechanic and he doesn't have me, so what option does he have?

Cyclops2 Granted, not all mechanics can build carbs worth a darn, and that term very loosely describes what some call themselves, but what would be your solution, buy six brand new cabs at about $150 Each? I do all my own work, so I don't have to worry about others lack of abilities. The problem he has, he's dealing with a motor that is very sensitive to fuel/air mixtures, and a dirty card WILL melt a piston in a heartbeat.

GET RID OF THAT OLD GAS!!!!! It could end up bing the most expensive tank you could ever run. Two years is a long time to sit with old gas. I have tons of experience with your motor and I have seen more than one or two melt pistons because of a lean condition caused by dirty carbs from bad gas. I won't even run gas two months old in mine. If you don't want to have your carbs cleaned to play it safe, you should at least premix a couple gallons with two ounces per gallon of SeaFoam, pull your fuel line off the input to the primer, connect a short piece to go in your container of premixed and run it on a hose a number of times for five minutes or so over the next couple of months. You will want to pull the spark plugs to clean/replace them before you take it to the lake. The SeaFoam flush will not clean gummed carbs but will help on ones that just have a light film in them. Removing and cleaning them is your best option, but I think shops are charging close to $300 to do them now.

I would check my charging and float voltages from the charger. If it's a name brand, quality on board, charging voltage should not be more than about 14.6 VDC and float (maintenance if it has that cycle) voltage should not be more than 13.2 VDC for a flooded cell battery. Any more than this and it will cause the water to evaporate too fast. If it's one of those cheap charger, maintainers, no matter who's brand that sells for around $50 - $75, I would not try to use it as a maintainer, period. Done seen too many batteries destroyed by those.

Two years I found that same motor for a friend of mine, in a 1986 model that was like brand new, for $500. It had not been run in 15 years and the original prop that came on it barely had a few scratches on it. I rebuilt the carb and fuel pump, replaced the fuel lines and water pump impeller because it had not been run in so long, and it was like a new motor when I finished. There is no way on gods green earth I would even pay half what you say he wants. $600 was more than a fair offer and if he was not willing to negotiate on that offer, you did the right thing in walking away from it.

I've been using it for many years to modify the ports iin motors, it's one of the most popular used to modify hot rod boat motors, but have never used it repair a boat with. We use it for motor work because it stays where you put it, I would have to assume it would do the same on a properly prepped hull. There is glue stick you melt and apply I've used a couple of times and it's has been on one boat for 15 years so I feel it works just fine

If it's brass, Graingers or a similar supply house should have a piece of metric rod you can cut your own. If it's steel, try to find a nail you that fits the hole and cut it. Nails are a very mild steel and work great. If you buy a steel rod, make sure it's a very mild steel. Do not try to use drill rod or any of the harder steels. If it's too mild it just bends or sheers too easily. If it's too hard, it will damage the LU before it sheers.

I DO NOT like or recommend using AGMs for cranking batteries. First, they are hard on an outboard motors charging system and can cause very expensive failures because in general, they are not designed for AGMs. Second, they do not have the reserve capacity a good, dual purpose flooded cell battery. One other recommendation of using jumper cables and paralleling the TM battery could also be a very expensive mistake. Connecting and disconnecting them creates an arc that can blow the Rec/Reg, the power pack, and even the much more expensive SECM on the newer motors. You may do this a dozen times without a problem, but when you do and notice your tach has quit working and find the battery is no longer being charged, or go to start the motor and it will not start or the motor is running like crap, then you can say goodbye by to some major dollars.

As mentioned, if wrapped, no need to do gal coat, and yes, you can expect to spend $3,000-$3,500 on a wrap. If clear gel is down to the color, be careful. Any sanding si going to take the color off the metal flake and that turns it silver. If it has a rough feel to it, the clear is most like gone. You can keep it polished and looking better, but will never look shiny and new.

Well, they are not designed to use for a basket ball, but if you had to try that, you probably did it with one of the toughest built batteries made. BPS batteries are built by EastPenn Mfg, and they build an excellent battery. As for yours, only time will tell

That's about all I do buy. Some outstanding deals to be had at auction that way. I've never bought one directly from a bank or finance company, they always seem a little harder to deal with and more expensive. However, I am also able to buy at dealer only auctions (I'm not a dealer though, my brother is) and I am a far better than average shade tree mechanic, so I can afford to take a greater risk. However, if you have someone that knows their crap that can check it out, I've seen some very good deals at banks. Just don't pay their first or maybe even their second asking price.

Yep, the day will come when you forget the drain plug. Just don't panic when it does happen. If you notice it at the ramp and have access to it from inside the boat. Just stick it in, load it back on the trailer and let it drain. If it not so deep in the boat it's dangerous, you can just drive the boat, once it's moving fast enough keep the water off the back of the transom (about 10 mph or so) it creates a vacuum an pulls the water back out, then just put the plug when it's all out. As mentioned, the best time is to make it part of the hookup procedure. I hook to it, connect chains and lights, trim the motor up (I keep my motor down when when parked) and putthe plug in. Now, when I take the tie downs off, i always double check to make sure the plug is in. Several years ago, we came in late, was going back out befor daylight, so I didn't disconnect the boat. Since I didn't go through my normal hookup procedure the next morning, and I always take it out when I load the boat. It was not until we stopped some 15 miles from the ramp the next morning I heard the blig pump come on that I realized I hadn't put the plug in. The problem with that was mine screws in from the outside and a foot back under the transom. So guess who had to strip and go swimming on a cold morning in some cold water.

Like you getting married, not sure if if I should congratulate you or send my condolences. With either one, get a good one and they are great, get a bad one and they can make your life miserable.

Yea, I get into those off season boat projects also. That's about the time I will usually wash mine, and it's lucky to get that.

Yea that would be fun, I guess I didn't catch I put an extra "p" in there.