Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

[Thoroughbred]

Re: Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

No a buddy of mine tells me if I replaced the thermostats I should have replaced the poppet valve. Never heard of one on can't find the part here. It shows one for Johbson/Rude but not Merc.

First what does it do, second where the hell is it and third where do I get one?

Thanks.

 

[DamianJP]

Re: Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

Hello

Poppit should be on the right side when looking at the engine from the back(coils and plugs facing you). Should look like figure 8(two circles one small,one bigger). Gonna be below the starter solenoid were the power head meets the mid section.

DamianJP

 

[444]

Re: Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

Right, I had the same problem last week, from what I recall you have 3 x things to line up in the following order:

1) The driver shaft splines - these can lined up by someone pushing the leg upwards while someone rocks the flywheel back and forth a little. That gets the first one...

2) The shifter - While again pushing the leg upwards ensure the male and female gear shift splines are aligned by moving the female end around to suit (this can be reached just above where it comes outside of the lower unit) once this is partially engaged proceed to step 3 below. Let me know if you need a picture of where this is.

3) Again while pushing upwards get some one to wiggle the shifter into gear FWD/Reverse only a tiny bit - this should allow it to close up the last bit by aligning these last splines.

Its a pain in the ar3e of a job lining it all up!

Good luck.

Jim

Thank you Jim, these suggestions were extremely helpful! I spend an hour by myself trying to horse the lower unit back on(my first time ever having one off) until my helper got home from work, then having him work the shifter back and forth and the crank with the ratchet everything slipped into place in 2 minutes.

 

[Superjetjim]

Re: Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

Thank you Jim, these suggestions were extremely helpful! I spend an hour by myself trying to horse the lower unit back on(my first time ever having one off) until my helper got home from work, then having him work the shifter back and forth and the crank with the ratchet everything slipped into place in 2 minutes.

Your welcome, glad it helped.

Its one of those jobs - do it first time it takes you a couple of hrs, do it a second and it's 30 mins!

 

[superwooter]

Re: Change water pump, can't get lower unit back on

hi,
just commenting so this will be listed under my subscriptions. i'll be changing my impeller for the first time and it looks like there's plenty of good advise here.
thanks,
superwooter

 

[lincoln31]

couldn't get lower unit back on, forced it- uh oh

couldn't get lower unit back on, forced it- uh oh

:redface:I had the same problem on my 1976 1150 Thunderbolt. I forced it on by tightening the nuts... the throttle/shifter was binding and I couldn't get it into reverse. When I tried to remove the lower end, the shifter shaft was stuck in the coupler. The shfter shaft pulled up partially out of the lower end, but did not come all the way out. I ultimately got it unstuck from the coupler. I pushed the shifter shafter back down into place in the lower unit.
The coupler appears to be a brass fitting. I looked inside and the tines are now stripped because I forced the shifter shaft in. I have ordered a new coupler.
Questions-
1. Is there any trick to installing the new coupler? I haven't seen how it connects to the internal upper shifter shaft.
2. Is my shifter shaft re-engaged w/in the lower unit? How can I check? I started the whole process with the throttle shifter in forward.
3. Should I set everything to neutral for re-install, or forward?