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I'm gonna have to replace the tilt motor on my 50 HP honda before I get my 1998 in the water. The tilt motor is rusted up and I'm actually surprised it still works. Anyone had any experience replacing one? According to the SELOC manual for the Honda 50 it looks like I have to take the entire motor off the boat and then remove the hydraulic tilt unit, and THEN take off the tilt motor. This correct? Difficult?

So I have done more research and called a few honda dealers looking for advice/parts. The closest Honda dealer that I could find near Richmond, VA is 70 miles away. Apparently you do have to typically take the motor off the boat to get to the Tilt motor, but if you can support the motor in the air you don't have to take the stern bracket off the boat but rather can take the motor off at the steering pin and upper pin on the hydraulic cylinder. From there, you take the lower hydraulic cylinder pin out and then lift the entire hydraulic unit out of the stern bracket. All of that to get to one bolt on the tilt motor that is covered by the stern bracket mount. You would think Honda could have designed that bump on the stern bracket a half an inch further back to avoid all of the hassle. I'll post pics when I do the repair to help anyone interested in doing the same repair.

UPDATE: You DO have to take the motor off the boat to replace the tilt motor. After removing the motor from the stern brackets you have to take the stern bracket off the boat to slide the tilt motor out. Not a big deal if you are fairly handy and have the ability to lift the motor off the boat. Get the SELOC manual and take pictures of how everything is set up.

Steps to replace tilt motor on 2000 Honda 50HP:
1. Remove steering rod from motor as well as throttle and power cables and electronic plugs for tilt trim motor.
2. Take the rod out of the top of the tilt motor piston.
3. Take steering rod out (The rod that connects the motor to the stern brackets). Lift motor up and away as you take the steering rod out.
4. Take one side of stern bracket off (2 Nuts) and the bottom rod on the tilt motor will come out.
5. Take off four bolts holding tilt motor to hydraulic tilt unit and replace with new motor.

Go back through and assemble everything in reverse order to reassemble.

Note: Stainless bolts are very soft and therefore the threads are commonly stripped so you might have to replace a stern bolt (I replaced 1). Be VERY careful not to round out the heads on the tilt trim motor when you take it off or you will be drilling them out and replacing with modified bolts or replacing the entire trim unit ($1,100 for Honda). Let the bolts soak in PB cutter and heat if necessary. I did both but ended up drilling them out and replacing with bolts to fit the hydraulic unit.

Hope this helps.
Happy sailing.

Nice job and thanks for sharing all that info

HONDA 50 TILT MOTOR REPLACEMENT