jason, look at the pin that holds top of the ram to the engine bracket on the port side. if it has a slot, you are missing the sending unit. if it is covered by a black cap, thats the sending unit.

sorry d, didn't see you post
i need to read , then post.

Thanks Phat and Destroyer. I tilted the engine again and sure enough i found two studs on the end of the shaft for the tilt pivot. No sender, i will have to add that to the list too.

Glad you found it :) The good news is that the unit is cheap and it's not model specific. The same unit is used on a variety of Mercury engines. I accidently broke mine while removing my engine from my Cruisers, Inc boat before scraping it a few weeks back. I got a used one off eBay for less than $20 and there were several listed... just do a search on eBay for a Mercury tilt switch. I'll post a pic of what the unit looks like off the engine tomorrow morning.

Phat, nothing to apologise about.. I have no pride of ownership...the trick is to help out a fellow boater.. Two heads are always better than one. :clap:

I need all the help i can get, considering i am a Mercury virgin. :you:

They are great engines... i know that there's a lot of ppl that swear by Yammies and other's that like OMC's...but for my money Mercs are the best..And the coffin cowl 2.5's are the best of the best.. (but that's just me) :beer:

not to de-rail, but i never saw the use of a trim gauge on a small boat. just turn around and look at the engine. i use the tach to let me know when i am getting to the sweet spot when running. i understand it on i/o applications. use that hole in the dash for your water pressure gauge, much more critical info, to me.

Phat you got me thinking. I have never had a trim gauge on any boat before. Well, they did have the gauge but never worked. My motor is going on a 30" bracket and the transom will be closed. Should be able to see it. So for gauges i am thinking tach, hours, water pressure, water temp, fuel, and maybe a speedometer. How does the hose on the lower unit work? I can feel the hose by the shift shaft.

It's a pitot hose. A pitot tube is a pressure measurement instrument used to measure fluid flow velocity. It connects to the back of your speedo and as your boat moves thru the water the water pressure on the air trapped inside of the hose increases, and as the pressure increases your speedo registers that increase on your speedo dial as your speed.

This is a pic of your trim sender.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...coolpix018.jpg

Thanks Destroyer. Not sure if i will replace my trim sendor. How accurate is the lower unit pitot tube?

LOL Don't know...never had mine connected up to the speedometer. I always use my GPS. I had a similar setup on a few of my old boats, they were aftermarket units...I think they were made by aquameter. Seemed ok at slower speeds, but didn't seem to be all that accurate at high speeds. Still, it was better than nothing.