I just bought a 1958 Evinrude Big Twin 35hp, that came with a motionless/stuck shift lever. It also happened to be a long shaft, and the fact that I needed to make it a short shaft, meant that I needed to seperate the upper shift rod from the lower shift rod anyway. The bolts on the clamp connecting the upper and lower shift rod, snaped when I tried to loosen them, and I couldn't drill/work with them through the acces hole while they were in the housing. So I dropped the lower unit, and even though I had supported it while it was hanging to prevent tension on the top of the upper shift rod, as I drilled the bolts out, I noticed a loss of tension in the shift rods (not a snap, more subtle) and the shift arm gained full movement, but only effected the upper shift rod if I applied an upward force. So...question one. Do I have to remove the powerhead, on a motor that runs fine so far, risk snapping off S/S bolts set into aluminum (having to drill/tap them) or is their another way? The second question is: When changing from a long shaft to a short shaft is it the upper or lower shift rod length that must be changed? This is the first motor, outboard or otherwise, I have worked on. I have a feeling that if I look at a manual, I'll read bad news. I just don't want to mess up all of the settings on this 50 year old motor that runs fine unless that is the only way. I have read many posting, and if it wasn't for all of the knowledge shared here, I honestly, don't think that I could have ever taken on a project like this.
