1975 Johnson 6hp (6RL75R) — idle timing off due to play in throttle shaft, need diagram of shaft/socket coupling

meser300

Recruit
Joined
Sep 12, 2026
Messages
4
Hi folks,
I'm newbie in the Johnson motors and met the next problem:
Working through a full rebuild on this motor — carb rebuilt, fuel pump rebuilt, points gapped at .020, spark good on both cylinders. Motor starts and runs fine at FAST but won't hold a stable idle; throttle plate barely opens at SLOW/START positions.

Traced it to the armature plate not reaching its correct SLOW/START position — it reaches full advance fine (hits the mechanical stop at FAST), but on the low end there's roughly 1-1.5" of travel missing at the plate's edge.

Found two contributing sources of play in the throttle shaft (the vertical shaft connecting the tiller twist-grip's bevel gear down to the linkage that turns the armature plate):

  • ~0.65mm gap in the keyway (shimmed this already)
  • Additional radial play of the shaft inside its socket, independent of the key
With the plate held stationary, the shaft/linkage still has noticeable wobble in the socket — so the missing travel isn't in the plate itself, it's upstream in this shaft-to-socket joint.

I can't find any parts diagram anywhere (Crowley, marineengine, boats.net) that shows this shaft/socket assembly — it doesn't appear to be listed under Magneto, Carburetor, or Powerhead sections, possibly because it was never sold as a separate serviceable part.

Has anyone dealt with this specific joint before, or knows where to find an exploded diagram of it? Trying to figure out the correct fix — shimming the socket bore, or if there's a proper replacement bushing/shaft part number I'm missing.


Photos of the joint and the remaining gap attached.

photo-1 gap in the START handle posittion
photo-2 gap in the SLOW handle position
photo-3 joint
 

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racerone

Honorary Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
39,932
I do not see a picture of the tip of the slow speed needle !-----Look under EXHAUST HOUSING for the parts.
 
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