Installing a Teleflex Pro Trim single lever trim control
Submitted by Jim Brown

I recently installed a Teleflex Pro Trim control in my boat and documented it for the grab bag. Its not a very hard project to do, you just need the proper tools and a basic knowledge of electric wiring. The total install took me about 15 min.
As always read the instructions that come with the kit should you decide to do this yourself, this article may not contain all the information you need to complete the installation on your boat.

Subject Boat:  2000 NX 882

List of materials and tools

• Teleflex Pro Trim kit
• Shrinkwrap tubing
• Allen Wrenches
• Steering wheel puller
• 3/4" socket and ratchet
• Cordless Drill
• 3/8" Drill Bit
• Phillips head screwdriver
• Soldering iron and rosin core electrical solder
• Heat gun or hair dryer
• Tie Wraps
• Med Strength Blue Loctite

Installation

The first step is to remove the steering wheel. On my boat the wheel itself is head on by 6 allen head bolts that are attached to a flange that adapts it to the steering shaft. Other boats may have the wheel pressed directly onto the steering shaft. When removing the wheel use the proper puller to avoid damage. 
|DO NOT  YANK ON THE WHEEL, HIT THE SHAFT WITH A HAMMER OR PRY ON THE WHEEL WITH A SCREWDRIVER. DOING THIS OR ANY OTHER METHOD OR REMOVING THE WHEEL WITHOUT THE PROPER PULLER COULD RESULT IN DAMAGE TO THE STEERING SYSTEM. 

This is the fully assembled wheel. To begin removing the wheel, remove the center trim piece. The trim just pops off. After the Trim is removed the nut that holds the assembly to the shaft will be visible. Remove the nut at this time, is easier to do with the wheel in place. Then remove the six allen bolts and the wheel is off.

The wheel has been removed. note I forgot to take the nut off, I had to replace the wheel so I could get the nut off. oops :)

Here the Wheel puller is in place. Because of the design of my wheel I was able to use a harmonic balancer puller I own for working on cars. Your boat may differ and require a different style puller. Most Auto Zone stores rent many different puller types if you need one. 

Here is a shot of the entire assembly removed. You will need to decide what side of the wheel you will want the switch mounted on. I decided to mount it on the right side. 

You will need to drill a 3/8" hole in the dash for the wires to pass thru. Before you drill make sure there are no wires or anything in the way that might be damaged when you drill the hole. 

You will need to locate the trim wires. I referred to CQ Baker's Boat Wiring Color Codes grab bag article to see what I was looking for. I found it under my dash, a blue, green, and red wire bundle. To insure it was the trim I disconnected the connector shown here and then tried the trim switches in the boat. This set of wires are the ones for the bow trim switches, when this connector is disconnected those switches stopped working.

I unplugged the connector and spliced the trim controls wires into the ones under my dash. I hooked the red to the red, blue to blue, etc. The kit comes with some wire tap connectors, I don't like those because they sometimes corrode and fall apart. I soldered the wires and used shrink-wrap to seal them This picture  is the harness after I spliced the wires in. I plugged the connecter back in after I was thru splicing the wires.

Next up is to wire the switch. The instructions in the kit were vague on wire placement so I tested by process of elimination.  The red is the common (hot) wire and goes onto the middle terminal. I then plugged in the blue and green wire making sure the motor trimmed up and down when the trim control was where I wanted it. In my case the blue wire went on the bottom and the green on top.  

The next step is to mount the trim control. On my boat it screws onto the trim flange using two sheet metal screws included in the kit. The kit also included screws for other applications. I also put the indicator sticker on as well. I also secured all the wires under the dash with tie wraps while the wheel was off.

The next step is to replace the wheel assembly. Its just the removal in reverse. I also put some blue Loctite on the threads of the allen bolts that hold the wheel on to keep them from vibrating loose. I had to bend the control a little bit towards the wheel to keep it from interfering with the switches. The installation was pretty straight forward and with the proper tools was easy to do.