Re: Clutch Dogs 1983 90hp Chrysler
They start out life as 90 degree angles, sharp, but not cutting sharp. With age they wear and the top edges get a bit rounded. Rounding from about the size of a pencil lead to a brass pen refill will usually cause no problem. When they get worn or rounded to more than about 1/3 down the face THEN they may start popping out of engagement with a thud or bang and will get progressively worse over time.
If the forward gear is not too bad, the reverse dogs are usually not as badly worn and you can try reversing the dog clutch.
To reface the forward gear, you must first remove the pinion to make room for the gear to come out. The drive shaft is shimmed so if you fully remove it be sure to keep all of them (there may be as many as 3 or 4).
The prop shaft is also shimmed to the front gear and this shim controls the lash or in and out play in the shaft. Again, don't lose it. If you do not change anything --like a new gear set, you can use the same shims. If you put in a new gearset, you must re-shim the lower unit.
As said before, since the wear on all three dogs is essentially the same, you gan use a Dremel held vertically to reface back to the unworn line. You do need a bit of patience for this task though and if you do not trust yourself, take it to a machine shop. For comparison purposes, you can buy a used lower of unknown internal condition for somewhere between 150-300. A new forward gear costs around 300, and a dog clutch about 1/2 of that . That will give you a feeling of the savings you can have by doing it yourself or by paying a machine shop.
Post a good, well lit , large photo and I will tell you what I think
