Trim down

Lube the balls on the end of those two rods with grease. That needs to be done periodically and will take care of your noise. Good luck. Judd Lasiter

Ive never seen the two ram balls cause noise in the driveway myself, but I suppose it could happen. It would help to know what kind of noise is present, but in any case, I have seen one issue in the past dealing with the pump itself… My current XR6 pump is quite loud. When I bought it in 1991 it was very quiet, but a switch issue with the wrong grease installed resulted in the pump burning itself out because the grease + water (heavy rain) caused the motor to automatically try to raise and once it reached the top, the pump kept running. Result was a burned out motor replaced under warranty. New motor was far louder, particularly when going up where it has to work much harder (going down puts no load on it at all). A couple of additional warranty checks led to the conclusion that there was just a simple clearance issue either in end-play in the armature shaft or something related to the motor itself. Mercury suggested ignoring it, telling me that if it became a problem they would fix it whether the warranty had expired or not. This is 2008, which makes that thing 17+ years old, still works like it did when it was installed. Just instead of a soft high-pitched whine, it is more of a growl…2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200

Ive heard popping and such, but the sound he described did not strike me as that sort of sound. He described “a different sound going down than up” but I didnt detect any implication about popping. Yes, if those balls get dry, they can make a noise you would not expect to hear from back there, but just a “change in sound” didnt seem to fit to me… particularly when I have heard em pop in either direction when under load.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200

There are definitely two pitches involved. There are three rams in the tilt section. The middle one has extended travel and is what tilts the motor up to clear the water. The two outer rams have greater volume (oil volume, not sound) and move far slower. there are two to control the motor angle better without any movment due to the extreme thrust pressure they are restraining. My trim changes pitch depending on whether the motor is supported by the two running rams, or the tilt ram. Going down, as the motor contacts the two trim ram rods (the ones with the balls on the end) the pitch definitely deepens. Best bet is to let someone familiar with them listen, or compare to someone at the ramp when you take it out for a trip.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200

BCB hit it on the head pressure trim rods are the small ones and the large one is tilt, on most trim units the trim rods will not retract them self and the tilt rod by lowering the engine pushs the trim rods in, got to have a differance sound.