Re: 87 Four Winns engine controls removal
1. Press the "throttle only button" and move the handle forward to a WOT position.
2. Pop out the TO button cap. Unfortunately Mercury made a large number of 3000 models. The TO button cap may be square or round. The square one can be popped by two flathead screwdrivers, the first one to lift the edge so that the second one can get a good purchase at the end and is able to pop it. The round one also can be popped by using two screwdrivers simultaneously.
3. There is a brass nut 11/16 inside. Remove it.
4. The handle will come off easily.
5. If the trim switch on the handle needs to be accessed, there is a screw on the underside, which can be removed.
6. If the control unit ( the rhomboidal metal case on the other side of the plywood, containing levers, throttle and shift cables and neutral safety switch yellow wires with red strip) needs to be removed, you will have to remove the plastic panel on the outside, after removing the handle. The panel is held in place by 6 bolts. The 3 larger ones 7/16, go into the control unit housing and are easily removed. They are short. The three small ones 3/8 size, but long, are used to attach the plastic panel to plywood. They have locking nuts and brass washers on the other side. Unfortunately, once you start removing these, the nuts rotate freely and the bolt cannot be removed without holding the nuts on the other side. This can extremely frustrating because there is usually no access to these nuts. Try anyway. Usually you are able to remove two and then the third comes off easy. When you put it back, forget the washers and locknuts. Try some other means of fastening the unit to plywood. When I did this, I used a larger drill to make recess in the plywood centered on the already drilled hole. Not through, but just the depth of the nut. Then the nut was placed in the recess and glued in place with epoxy.The bolt then easily goes in and out.
There are two design flaws (at least!) in the 3000 model, the removal of handle should not require popping off plastic tabs which have a tendency to break. There should be a couple of small screws. Secondly, who but an idiot would put bolts to hold the unit to the plywood but put the nuts on the other side and almost inaccessible. In fact the three 7/16 bolts easily hold the assembly in place by sandwiching the plywood firmly between the panel and the control unit. Even stainless screws instead of bolts would have been nice.
