Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

[TJG]

I have checked manual on removing lower unit and all seems fairly straight forward, but how does the shift rod and reverse locking rod seperate when lower unit is pulled? I believe its a 1986 serial #a922905. (35 hp merc tiller) Thanks for any help.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

there is no shift rod to disconnect. it spins left to right instead of the old fashioned up and down such as that on the omc motors.<br /><br />just take out the bolts and nuts and the unit drops, no other motor is as straight forward as these mercs, i have 3 , i know!!!<br /><br />BUT, im not sure bout your 1986, but my 1980 40hp , when the lower unit is taken out, it had a rubber grommet at the end of the driveshaft, where it meets the crank, mine fell ot and was a pain to get back in, just go slow. other than that, its easier than you think<br /><br />other motor companies should take note of merc

 

[Scooch_2]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

I have the same motor and have dropped the lower unit once. It was easy to seperate. I had a little bit of fun getting it lined back up to fit all the way right, but if I had someone helping me, it would have been a breeze.<br /><br />If your replacing the water pump, be prepared for water to leak from the water jacket plate around the spark plugs after the new pump. Scared the devil out of me, but after posting here and reading about all the other folks who had the same issue, it was easy to fix.

 

[TJG]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

Thanks for the replies, I'm still curious how the rods seperate, (are they splined and just pull apart.) Yes I am going to change the water pump. Why would I possibly have a leak on powerhead?

 

[Scooch_2]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

Yes the rods are splined and just separate. Mine had some sort of rubber ring on the drive shaft at the top. Not a big deal, but at first I didn't know where it popped out of.<br /><br />The water leak is a common merc issue on some of these older motors. Since the water jacket plate only bolts around the outside, the gasket can deteriorate around the spark plug holes. With the new water pump, you will have much more water pressure helping the gasket to fail. Mine leaked like crazy, After removing the plate and replacing the gasket, all was well.

 

[TJG]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

Thanks much for the info, I greatly appreciate your help.

 

[andrewkafp]

Re: Pulling lower unit on 35 hp mercury tiller.

When you buy a W/P kit there is an inner and outer black plastic seal which goes over the splined drive shaft. You get 4 of them and only use the 2 for your HP motor.The new W/Pump may not neccessarily cause a leak in the cover gasket if the original one is putting out around 6 psi currently.This will only occur if your pump is very weak and an increase in pressure will put load on the corroded cover. If you remove it, you will most likely snap some bolts. I would recommned JB weld. <br />Ken G has a very good description of his L/U removal method. http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=29;t=010967#000000