Help Needed Raymarine Linear Drive-Urgent

[Pete the Cat]

I am down here in Panama and Raymarine techs will not help. The Linear Drive on my Raymarine unit is not working. It was when I parked the boat here in Bocas del Toro 6 months ago. All the control head electronics seem OK, but the linear ram motor just clicks. The clutch works, motor does not turn. I am hoping it is just the internal wiring or a contact on a ground. I have taken the unit out and have hooked it up directly to 12v and it does the same thing, so it is not the line.

I have a couple questions:

1. I have removed the cover that is over the motor and slides off the ram. I want to get into the side with the gears as it appears that is where the electrical junction is for the motor. I took the four bolts out that look like they are holding the cover on, but it does not seem to move. Before I hit it with a hammer, is there something else holding on the cover to the gears???

2. Also, a question about the function of this drive. Does the computer just reverse the polarity to reverse the motor? I have been reluctant to try reversing the leads for fear of scortching the guts of the motor.

Help or referral would be appreciated. The Raymarine folks have been reluctant to get involved, just send it in, they say. Not so easy when you are in the tropical rain forest.

Ray Durkee

[irwinsailor]

Is the rudder "hard over"? And if you turn the wheel back to center does that auto pilot return to hard over? If so you do need to reverse the wires.

[senormechanico]

Ray,
I'm working from memory here, so take it with that in mind.
I used to have a 6000 ram on my old boat which I sold in 1998.
I had a sticking problem in the center of the ram early on, like 1988 or so.
Raymarine (then Autohelm) gave me the same runaround about self repair ("You'll shoot your eye out!)

The cover you speak of should come off. It's most likely just salt corrosion making it stick. If yours is the same as mine was, it's cast aluminum.
Four wires go into it. Two are for the electric clutch, and two are for the motor. The polarity is reversed to the permanent magnet motor to go the opposite direction. The motor runs a toothed belt to a shaft which has a recirculating ball assembly on it. The balls had gotten ever so slightly grungy and were not working correctly. I took the thing apart making sure no balls could get lost, and carefully cleaned the shaft and all the parts with kerosene. I put it back together using EP grease, and it worked flawlessly for 15,000 miles of ocean sailing and tropical cruising until I sold the boat years later. It's still working as far as I know.

Steve B.

[Pete the Cat]

I got the case apart. It turns out that the very long brass extrusions that hold the casing for the motor also are screws that retain the cover for the belt and clutch assembly.

I will try reversing the leads to see if the motor will work the other direction, but when I attempt to turn the armature of the motor it turns only about an eighth of a turn and then locks with a metal on metal sound. Both ways. Any ideas about what this could mean??? It is not the clutch--that is a separate unit and works fine.

Anyone out there with experience is welcome to chime in. It is raining torrents here in Panama and I want to get going.

[Pete the Cat]

OK folks. I need some help here. The motor on the autopilot only runs one way--when I reverse the leads. It just locks when the current goes the other way. Any ideas as to why this would happen? I am down here in the jungle in Panama and am hoping there is a fix I could effect here.

[DeepFrz]

Raven had some problems with his linear drive. He posted some info on this forum so if you search for user Raven you should be able to find the thread. Basically he took the motor apart and cleaned all the gunk from the brush assemblies. Your problem may be different. Good luck.

Deep

[irwinsailor]

I had a simular problem with my new raymarine rotary autopilot last year.
I spent allot of time trying to figure it out and almost sent it back. I reinstalled the old unit that still worked but did not release like it should anylonger and had the same problem that I had with the new unit. I could not understand why the old unit that worked before would not work after installing the new one. After listening to the Raymarine recording I played with the wiring and like magic the thing has worked ever sense. Try wiring it back like it was and see if it responds the same way if not ... reverse it again.

[Wim]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Ray,
I'm working from memory here, so take it with that in mind.
I used to have a 6000 ram on my old boat which I sold in 1998.
I had a sticking problem in the center of the ram early on, like 1988 or so.
Raymarine (then Autohelm) gave me the same runaround about self repair ("You'll shoot your eye out!)

The cover you speak of should come off. It's most likely just salt corrosion making it stick. If yours is the same as mine was, it's cast aluminum.
Four wires go into it. Two are for the electric clutch, and two are for the motor. The polarity is reversed to the permanent magnet motor to go the opposite direction. The motor runs a toothed belt to a shaft which has a recirculating ball assembly on it. The balls had gotten ever so slightly grungy and were not working correctly. I took the thing apart making sure no balls could get lost, and carefully cleaned the shaft and all the parts with kerosene. I put it back together using EP grease, and it worked flawlessly for 15,000 miles of ocean sailing and tropical cruising until I sold the boat years later. It's still working as far as I know.

Steve B.

Hello Steve,

I am new on this forum, so I 'll hope everything goes right.

On this very moment I have disassembled my Autohelm 5000 drive. (Last summer I removed the electric circuit and using the drive now with a Silva NX2 autopilot. Everything works fine but yes, the noise in the drive!.)
I am wondering how to put back all of the 52 balls without falling out of the "nut" (the one that holds the balls and fits on the spindle.)

In your mesage you wrote: " I put it back together..."
That's sounds easy.
Would you be so kind to tell me the "trick"?

Thanks
Wim

[Pete the Cat]

I never disassembled the balls in the arm, although I think there is someone else on previous posts who did without a problem--Steve B, perhaps he will tell you. I discovered the problem with my unit: the magnets for the motor had come unglued and fallen into the armature. I took the thing to the factory repair center and they put a new motor in it in about 20 minutes. I later opened up the old one and found the problem. I am trying to glue the magnet back in place with 5200 and see if I can get it running. These motors are very basic electrics. If anyone needs a step by step of disassembly, I will send you pictures of how the motor comes out. It is very easy.

[Wim]

Originally Posted by Pete the Cat

I never disassembled the balls in the arm, although I think there is someone else on previous posts who did without a problem--Steve B, perhaps he will tell you. I discovered the problem with my unit: the magnets for the motor had come unglued and fallen into the armature. I took the thing to the factory repair center and they put a new motor in it in about 20 minutes. I later opened up the old one and found the problem. I am trying to glue the magnet back in place with 5200 and see if I can get it running. These motors are very basic electrics. If anyone needs a step by step of disassembly, I will send you pictures of how the motor comes out. It is very easy.

Thanks Pete,

The motor is not the problem. I have indeed send a message to Steve B.

wim.

[Alan Wheeler]

Ray, when you say the motor locks, is the motor removed from the gear case? If it is still engaged to the gears, it could be locking the gear drive due to the housing being removed and something being forced out of alignment. Ensure the motor is free from all when you test both directions.
Which Model do you have. That woudl kinda help us a little. If the unit has gears, check all the teetch are present. If it is the worm drive, check the bearings at the end of the worm for play. If it is the little ballbearings, check they are clean and well lubricated.
You won't get much help from Raymarine techs. They don't repair at component level. It is a swap of compleate assembly. All you could hope for is finding an authorised service agent that would send you that assembly, if you went down a tech path.
Any chance of a photo of the inards.

[senormechanico]

I am wondering how to put back all of the 52 balls without falling out of the "nut" (the one that holds the balls and fits on the spindle.)

In your mesage you wrote: " I put it back together..."
That's sounds easy.
Would you be so kind to tell me the "trick"?

----------------

It wasn't easy. I did it on a kitchen counter and had to be careful to not lose any balls. Like I said previously, it was a long time ago, but I faintly remember using EP lubricant on the balls to get them to stick to the shaft and the nut. It took awhile to get them back in. As I recall, there were a couple of removable guides on the nut which steered the balls back to the other end of the nut. That's where I inserted the balls, turning the nut around the shaft as I inserted them. The last few balls were the trickiest part.

Steve B.

[Wim]

Thanks a lot Steve. I have noticed the guides, only did not know these are removable. Now I understand. Next weekend I shall try to reasssemble the drive.
Thanks again.

Wim