Can’t get lower unit back on 1970 johnson

[Tourtney]

Hi guys, I can’t get the lower unit back on on my 60hp Johnson. I have replaced the lower unit before. This time, I decided to grease the splines. I am able to get the lower unit up to about 1/2 inch of touching but the lower unit just won’t go any higher no matter how much you wiggle it. I even had someone helping me. What could be causing my issue? I don’t think it could be the splines not lining up because the flywheel turns the impeller and I can tell when the splines are not aligned because it stops more like 1.5 inches out with a metal clank. When it stops about 1/2 an inch out it doesn’t really make a clank sound.

 

[racerone]

There should be 2 plastic " guide tubes " to help install the copper water tubes into the water pump.-----Do you have those in place , yes or no ?

 

[Tourtney]

Hi, yes those are in place

 

[Tourtney]

Now I have reason to suspect it is the water pickup tubes. I removed the impeller housing and it is stopping about half an inch short when I push it up into the motor. I think it might be only one of the pipes. It seems like it’s getting stuck pst the metal opening on the round rubber Gasket just above the impeller that the pipes slide in to. Now the question becomes why and how do I fix it. I already tried greasing all surfaces and even zip tied the pipes together to see if it was a misaligned pipe. One of the tubes isn’t circular, I could start by trying to round it out

 

[Wshadrap]

Make sure it is sitting on level ground.

 

[Tourtney]

Hey guys, I think it was the rubber grommet. Once I removed those it slid on. Will keep you posted.

 

[iggyw1]

Hey guys, I think it was the rubber grommet. Once I removed those it slid on. Will keep you posted.

You cannot leave them out. They will need to go back in place, so I would order new ones if they are bad.

 

[racerone]

Well you need to be 100% sure it is assembled correctly with all the parts..------You can not just leave parts out that are critical to keeping the motor cool.

 

[Tourtney]

I understand, I just wanted to see if it would go together. The parts have been ordered.