Just got back this afternoon from a week's fishing on the St. Lawrence, so I haven't had a chance to tear things apart for inspection yet. However, my newly-resurrected '56 15 hp Johnson showed all the signs of a worn clutch dog/forward gear problem on its first river test run on my 14ft. aluminum boat. While it runs like a top in the test barrel, shifts cleanly into reverse and backs from the dock just great, when shifted into forward it starts to "jump" every once in a while as soon as I get it off "slow" speed. And the faster I try to go, the more it "jumps." I never did get it above half-throttle. I pulled the motor off the boat, attempted to re-adjust the shifter, with little change. It did seem to help - a little.
This motor had been in storage so long the owner forgot why he stopped using it. He gave it to me a year ago when I had some problems with my 9.5 (which since have been corrected), and it was a mess. It looked like it had been "rode hard and put away wet," but I managed to get 'er running with a lot less trouble than I expected. One of the problems was a bent shift detent lever, which I restored to its proper bend, and the pivot the shift lever clamps onto has some slop. That should have been a clue, but I ignored it and just went with new gear oil and a water pump impeller in the lower unit.
Now for the $64 question: I also have much of a 12 hp Gale-built Montgomery Ward motor of approximately the same vintage that I've been using for parts. In fact, I used a bypass cover from this Gale, which was a perfect fit, to convert the Johnson to use a fuel pump. I haven't had occasion to tear the Gale's lower unit apart, but I have reason to think it's probably good. Does anybody know if it's possible that the gears from the Gale will fit into the Johnson? Maybe if I replaced the whole set(forward, reverse, clutch dog, and pinion), and not just the Johnson's worn parts?
I can't just switch lower units, because the Gale's doesn't have the large cap screw to the rear of the water pump, but from the outside the gear cases look the same. It's enough to make anybody wonder...
This motor had been in storage so long the owner forgot why he stopped using it. He gave it to me a year ago when I had some problems with my 9.5 (which since have been corrected), and it was a mess. It looked like it had been "rode hard and put away wet," but I managed to get 'er running with a lot less trouble than I expected. One of the problems was a bent shift detent lever, which I restored to its proper bend, and the pivot the shift lever clamps onto has some slop. That should have been a clue, but I ignored it and just went with new gear oil and a water pump impeller in the lower unit.
Now for the $64 question: I also have much of a 12 hp Gale-built Montgomery Ward motor of approximately the same vintage that I've been using for parts. In fact, I used a bypass cover from this Gale, which was a perfect fit, to convert the Johnson to use a fuel pump. I haven't had occasion to tear the Gale's lower unit apart, but I have reason to think it's probably good. Does anybody know if it's possible that the gears from the Gale will fit into the Johnson? Maybe if I replaced the whole set(forward, reverse, clutch dog, and pinion), and not just the Johnson's worn parts?
I can't just switch lower units, because the Gale's doesn't have the large cap screw to the rear of the water pump, but from the outside the gear cases look the same. It's enough to make anybody wonder...
