Trolling valve

[Carl]

Russell, Thanks so much for your replies, I will now be able to measure up things this weekend and place the order. Need to get er done before April 21st !
Thanks again!
Carl

[Maye Marie]

Carl
I would take a close look at the venier cable. This cable makes a lot of sense. The reason is you just don’t open and close the control valve. There is a range you have to be in and then you can make a speed adjustment by slightly moving the valve. In my research I am told the valve gets very sensitive in the operational range. (Less than ½ inch movement) Some have had to go back and increase lever length on the valve to take sensitivity out or they would pick up vibration. Others have run into vibration problems and have installed pressure gauges to help with adjustment. The venier cable is no different than Russ tee handle to engage, except you would turn a knob at the base for final adjustment. Simple takes up no more room and may prevent running down a problem later. Go to http://boatdiesel.com and look for threads on this subject for any trans. A lot of information at this web sight. Also speak with the person selling the valve he will relate to the sensitivity problem if you bring it up. At least two I spoke with did.

[RicM]

Has anyone done a trolling valve install on a ZF transmission? I would like to know what connections are required between the valve & transmission. Is this a job that a reasonably handy person can do with commonly available hand tools?

[Tuxedo]

I've watched this thread hoping someone would answer the how-to part, because my memory is a little fuzzy on it. (I was an Albin dealer in the mid-90s)

Since no one has, best I remember, we had a ZF mechanic do the first one we did, and he trained the boatyard mechanic to do the other 3-4 we installed. What I can't remember was if they had to pull the transmission, but I think they had to at least uncouple it from the engine.

I would not classify it as a do-it-yourself job, best as I recall. Check with your mechanic to make sure.

[Pitou]

I recently spoke with Scottie Mahl ( service center manager) at ZF in Warwick, RI. He felt someone with mechanical ability could do this job themselves. With my ZF V-Drive the control valve is accessable and comes off and the trolling valve goes on.

Before launch (in about 3 weeks) when the temps begin to warm I am going to have at it and I'll let you know.

[RicM]

So there is a ZF shop in Warwick? I would be more than happy to have a local pro do the job if I was sure they knew what they were doing. Do you have contact info?

[Carl]

Gents, I was told by the tranny manufacturer that the trolling valve comes as a kit with directions and that it was straight forward. You need to give him the cable length for your T handle before you order. I will be settleing next week on my 28 if the survey/sea trial goes well. As soon as its tied up in the slip I will place the order and let you know how it goes. Once I get it I will determine if its something I can do.

Carl

[Pitou]

Scottie Mahl Service Center manager
ZF Marine Propulsion
225 Metro Ctr. Blvd. Unit 1
Warwick, RI 02886

401-463-3005 scott.mahl@zf.com

They are on the water and have a travel lift. Expensive !!
Here is their break down I was given:
They will not do a push pull control and will only install an electronic control. Scottie priced this out with me. Electronic processor / $ 2300
Electronic Control / $ 800 Trolling Valve $ 644 + Labor and Lift. Too rich for my blood.
I am going with the push pull (as pictured on Russell's Post) with a light on the dash and a tether to the throttle to prevent going over 1000RPM. Push pull w/cables $ 120 /
Trolling Valve $ 644 + labor or DIY. Not that hard to do.

I also have the PDF for installation and service if anyone is interested send a PM and I will forward

[Pitou]

Trolling valve in

Really, no big deal. The valve came with a gasket kit and 6 new bolts. The 1st order of business was to put a coat of paint on the valve to protect it from the bilge environment. I applied 3 coats of High Heat white to match the current program on my power plant. Time for remove and replace. I removed the shift cable then the 2 transmission lines on the top of the valve / noting from where they came and then removed the 6 bolts holdiing the regular valve on and then swapped them out. All in little over 1/2 hour. Very little ATF fluid lost / a couple of ounces tops. As always place absobant pads below your work area.

First I connected the shifter cable then I installed a Morse push pull control and cable in front of my controls and ran the cable back to the valve. This is where the head scratching started. To engage the troll the mechanical arm needed to be thrown back and pulled forward to disengage. This was just the opposite of what you want out of the push pull. Pull would be disengaged and push engaged. A call to ZF was in order to finish the cable connection. They were closed and I was itchy. At that point I decided to fire up the engine (on the hard and fresh water hose in hand) and test my installation. Regular control worked fine and I then operated the troll by hand. Man oh man was it ever so sweet to see the RPM's drop on the drive ......... nice. Anyway, called ZF today to see if the lever could be loosened and turned 180 degrees. I was put on hold and then told absolutely. Problem solved / the push pull will be in order by the weekend. All told total time invested will be about 1 1/2 hours.

Thanks to all on this board for your posts and ideas. This is something I have been thinking about for about a year. Without the exchange on this board I most likely would not have gone forward. Thank you again and GO FOR IT

[DougSea]

Pitou - thanks for the write up. This may be a project for next year.

Did you take any pictures of the effort? I'd be interested to see the parts and how they went together.

And on the subject of pictures, I'd love to see a few more of your boat! Especially the very substantial radar tower arrangement, it looks great in the shots I've seen.

Looking forward to some "in use" reports! You should make the trek down to BI and join us for the rendezvous! Swap a few "Albiner" (as John calls us) stories...

[Pitou]

No pictures while in progress, but will snap some of installed unit and of old valve now in a box in the basement with all the accumulation of boat parts. (THE GRAVEYARD) Tube and worm here I come!

I would like to attend the Rendevous, but between the river I boat from and the timing for the Cape Cod Canal the tides and timing fight each other and I would find myself fighting the Canal both ways or finding myself unable to get home. I have a 3 hour lockout at low tide at the entrance to the home river. Regretably, I just do not have the extra time this year.

[Pitou]

DougSea / a few photos / better late than never!

Just posting a few pics of old valve and new. Not much to it. 6 bolts / gasket and valve. Swap out neutral safety switch and 2 hoses shift cable and add push pull.

Very little ATF fluid drained / check the pad


New Valve
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Old Valve


Old Valve
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[DougSea]

Thanks for the pictures Pitou.

I'm assuming that either the shift or the push-pull trolling cable isn't hooked up in the "after" shot. Is that right? And having seen your installation I know this is something I could do myself - appreciate your sharing the pics.

It always amazes me just how differently the "same" boat is configured out of Albin. The are under my main hatch doesn't look anything like yours! My engine area is partitioned off and I don't have any through hulls in that space.

[Pitou]

The linkage for troll is not yet hooked-up. I decided not to flip the linkage / it would drop the cable too low and be in the way of the seacocks as you see in the photos. I had to order a cable 5 ft. longer and will loop in from behind. UPS tracking indicates it will be delivered Tuesday. Ah yes, the 2 seacocks / aft is for AC and forward is for the genset aftercooler / the genset is just forward of the seacocks. Very little room to work in this boat. Jam it in!

[Pitou]

An over do post hear.
The shift likage was hooked up and shown in an earlier post and now here is a shot with the troll valve linkage hooked up. I had to run a 15 ft cable down through the bulkhead by the engine and tranny along the starboard stringer with all the other cables and wires and loop back along side the engine to push pull the troll valve from astearn. I think you can see that from the top shot with the cable running under the air cleaner. The toughest part of this job was mounting the bracket on the side of the tranny with standoffs to get a straight pull from astearn. The tranny had two mounting holes on the side for this purpose and I was able to reuse 2 bolts from the old valve / same thread size. The bracket was from ZF and of course one hole needed to be elongated on the bracket to line up with the tranny mounting holes.

Now for a red dash light. There is a second hole in the troll linkage that can be used for a switch.I have decided to mount a water proof cole hersey push pull electrical switch off the shift bracket and attach a stiff wire to the troll linkage that when troll is engaged the switch is on and when disengaged the switch will be off. This will light a pilot light on the dash all controled through the push pull cable. How boat projects always seem to evolve.

In the mean time, though the light is not in yet, the 1st time out trolling the tube and worm at 1 to 1.5 knots / fish on. A small striper at 30 inches. I have been wanting to do that for 3 years. The sweetness of success and accomplishment.






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