62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

[masintenn]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

Reassembled it without the string gasket, shift lever and pinion gear and as soon as I tighten the screws on the prop end of the skeg, it gets so tight I can't turn it by hand! I even tried a 2nd prop shaft and gear set!!!!

What am I missing???? I consider myself to have a high level of mechanical skill but I can't figure this out!

 

[dew2]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

Have you set the gearcase head in by itself and see if the tab set in place correctly? Have you set the old gears in and tried them?

 

[masintenn]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

Figured it out!!!!

I had bought a lower unit from the same year Evinrude. After inspecting all the parts, I was using everything from the ER, except for the reverse gear due to some minor chipping on the inside of the teeth. Everything appeared to be exactly the same dimensions.......

However, the drive gears are ever-so-slightly different!!!! The pinion from the ER wasn't meshing quite right with the original Johnson reverse gear and was placing pressure on the drive shaft when tightened. Installing the ER reverse gear resolved the problem.

ER pinion.....Johnson gears

ER pinion....ER gears......and a better fit!

It's all sealed up and ready to go. I am slightly concerned by another minor difference in the pinion shaft. The ER shaft and pinion have a star spline that goes further up the shaft than the Johnson shaft. These splines are exposed at the base and will be riding inside the brass bushing at the base of the lower unit. I guess time will tell how big an issue this is.

Not a great pic, but you can see the splines inside the brass bushing.

Gears, etc installed

I'll post a follow up once it's made a couple trips.

 

[masintenn]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

I ran it yesterday for about 3 hours and it's running great. Drained the oil afterwards and no sign of water.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

awesome! congrats on the fix! Do you still have the clutch dog from your old/original Johnson gears? If it's in good shape I may be interested in taking it off your hands. I have a '61 QD-22 that needs a new dog. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

 

[masintenn]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

I'm going to hold onto the old parts for now.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 62 Johson - 10hp Lower Unit trouble

I'm going to hold onto the old parts for now.

Cool to see that everything is running good. Looks like you did a nice job getting it all back together. I saw the leak around the shift rod, when I tore it down, so I figured that was a needed replacement.

Good luck and happy boating.