lenco trim tabs
- Thread starter wtmaxwell
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2005
- RO Number
- 19492
- Messages
- 145
You can check it by wiring it directly to the battery but make sure you do it through a 20 amp fuse. Reversing the wires reverses the direction of travel. To retract a defective operator, you have to loosen the bolt that holds the rod to the plate and rotate the piston inward and reattach the nut and bolt. Make sure the the control box is also fused. On my boat the manufacturer failed to fuse the control box. While operating the trim switch to test the tabs, the control box exploded and it spiked my negative buss taking out my Furuno fishfinder. Five months after replacing the control box and the piston, the replacement piston went out again. After removing the two pistons, I found the good piston to be filled with water. I couldn't believe it was still working. I replaced it with an entire Bennett trim tab system with extra travel almost three years ago and couldn't be happier.
exploded control box
first defective piston after 10 months use & electolysis
exploded control box
first defective piston after 10 months use & electolysis
I was just going to ask how the lenco conversion is. Any body like to comment on these actuators. Are they simpler to deal with or should i just leave the original bennet tabs alone? I concerned about putting anything with electrical current near the water?
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2005
- RO Number
- 19492
- Messages
- 145
pancake,
In the case of a failure as in the original post, retracting the tabs involves disconnecting the actuator and retracting it manually. With Bennetts you just loosen the nut on the pump housing and the piston retracts by itself with just a little loss of fluid. As far as installation goes the only difference is the installation of the pump at the transom. The Lenco tab wires have to run to a control box just as the wires from the Bennett run. You can adapt the Lenco to the Bennett tab.
Some people prefer the faster action on the Lencos but I like the control from the slower Bennetts. That's a matter of likes and dislikes. If you trailer a boat, I think the Lencos are less subject to problems. I keep my boat in the water 24/7. In defense of Lenco, the replacement control box was an improved model but I still had a piston fail again. For me it's too much of a pain to have the boat hauled and go through the install again. I've taken Bennetts that I bought in 1983 and installed on one boat and removed them in 1992 to install on another boat. With the exception of replacing a joystick operator, they are still going strong on my friends boat.
As far as your tabs go..If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
In the case of a failure as in the original post, retracting the tabs involves disconnecting the actuator and retracting it manually. With Bennetts you just loosen the nut on the pump housing and the piston retracts by itself with just a little loss of fluid. As far as installation goes the only difference is the installation of the pump at the transom. The Lenco tab wires have to run to a control box just as the wires from the Bennett run. You can adapt the Lenco to the Bennett tab.
Some people prefer the faster action on the Lencos but I like the control from the slower Bennetts. That's a matter of likes and dislikes. If you trailer a boat, I think the Lencos are less subject to problems. I keep my boat in the water 24/7. In defense of Lenco, the replacement control box was an improved model but I still had a piston fail again. For me it's too much of a pain to have the boat hauled and go through the install again. I've taken Bennetts that I bought in 1983 and installed on one boat and removed them in 1992 to install on another boat. With the exception of replacing a joystick operator, they are still going strong on my friends boat.
As far as your tabs go..If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
