Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

[lyoncoeur]

Help Please!

I just bought a 1964 Montgomery Wards Sea King 8hp Outboard. My research tells me that it's a 1964 VWB-19076 West Bend/Chrysler.

I have the original MW Service Manual. I need to remove the lower unit to work on the water pump, when follow the instructions and get to the step after unscrewing the upper from the lower things go bad.

The manual says that there is a screw connecting the upper shift rod to the lower, I need to remove this screw to seperate the upper from the lower, and that I should put the motor in reverse to see/access this screw. I can not find this screw, I can see the rod just fine but it's solid for as far as i can see up, and down...no matter if it's in forward-nutural-reverse, this puts my project at a standstill.

Has anybody else had this problem? Any ideas or solutions would be very welcome.

Thanks, & Cheers!
Eric Malain

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

Lyon, were you able to separate the lower unit from the mid housing? It should come down about an inch or so with the motor in reverse. It's in that gap that you should be able to see the bolt assembly holding the two halves of the shift rod together. Sometimes it can take some coaxing to get the lower unit to drop to open that gap. I'm not familiar with that exact model, but some outboards will have an access window on the side of the lower unit housing held on by two screws. Look to see if yours has one. If it does, the shift rod bolt should be behind it. If it's a solid one piece shift rod you'll most likely have to take the power head off to disconnect it.

 

[steelespike]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

I'll assume the 8 is the same as thev 9.2 Chrysler.
When you drop the lower unit you should be able to see the bolts at the joint. There is a 90 degree bend just above the joint.It appears the joint should be visable at the connection above the antivent plate where the 4 bolts hold it together.

 

[byacey]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

My West bend manual shows both a one piece shift rod, and a twp piece rod on some models. The one piece has to be disconnected at the shift lever handle, and pulled out through the bottom of the motor leg with the gearbox. the two piece if you have it, will have a shift rod coupler between the two halves of the shift rod. According to the book though, this only applies to 6 and 9 HP models.

 

[lyoncoeur]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

Thanks everyone! Yah, I am thinking that byacey's answer is the likely one... It's an 8hp though, but I can't seem to think of any other solution.... so let me be sure I have this stright, I will have to remove the powerhead to remove the lower unit? They diden't think that one over in the design stage did they? :^

Cheers!
Eric

 

[steelespike]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

It sure does seem that a little window with a connector would be best.Some of the little E/J you have to remove the power head.

 

[byacey]

Re: Help!! Removing Lower Unit of West Bend/Chrysler/Sea King *hp

It didn't appear the power head had to come off - they show the shift rod connected beside the power head to the shifting lever. On your engine, maybe the setup was a little different from the West Bend.