1969 6 HP Johnson Lower unit will not come off

[oldmanwaz]

I'm trying to change the fresh water impeller of my 69 6 hp johnson but the shaft will not come loose from the power head. The shift lever appears to be attached. I'm not seeing where I can loosen something to take it one step further. Am I missing something? Is there something I need to loosen on the power head or shift lever? Or just use brute force to remove the lower unit?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1969 6 HP Johnson Lower unit will not come off

remove the 6 bollts that hold the lower to midsection, shift into reverse, and pull down on lower unit, the shift connection is in the crack between lower and midsection. disconnect bottom bolt.

 

[oldcatamount]

Re: 1969 6 HP Johnson Lower unit will not come off

I have a 1967 Evinrude 6 hp and it's basically the same thing. Tashasdaddy explained it very well. I can almost gaurantee you will drop that bottom screw, so, watch where it goes! Maybe you just need to loosen it and not totally remove it. Good luck putting it back together, it's a tedious little job.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1969 6 HP Johnson Lower unit will not come off

There is more to it than that.

1. Remove the spark plugs and ground the wires.

2. Wiggle & pull down on the lower unit. Something will stop it.

3. That "something" is a pin through the top of the drive shaft. It has to be aligned with a slot before it can come down. Putting slight downward pressure on the lower unit, rotate the flywheel. When the pin alignes with the slot, it will come down through. DO NOT rotate the flywheel any more till after it is reassembled.

4. Now you can access and remove the shift rod connector bolt. A 1/4" drive socket and extension is the best tool.

5. Now the lower unit will come down and away. NOTE the position of the pin in the drive shaft so you can put it back the same way for reassembly. It is NOT necessary to remove the pin to access the water pump. After removing the pump screws, simply pull the shaft out of the lower unit to get the impeller off. If you damaged the pin, replace it with the proper stainless steel pin. It is an extremely vital part.

6. When you go to put everything back, use a flashlight to peer in there and make sure the notch in the shift lever is exactly aligned with the hole in the shift rod connector. Then install and tighten the screw. If you didn't align it properly, the threads on the screw will drag on the side of the notch and strip them off slick as can be. Then the screw will fall out someday....but never at dock side, always 5 miles from shore.

7. If you put the pin back in the same position, and if you didn't rotate flywheel, it should slip back up in there easy.

 

[oldmanwaz]

Re: 1969 6 HP Johnson Lower unit will not come off

Thanks everyone for your help. This has been good information. I will give it a try.

Thanks