Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

[phillnjack2]

Ok we have a 50hp evinrude 1987. the model of engine is E50TLCUD

the engine has not been very well looked after at all and maintainance as been almost zero.
The engine belongs to a friend and im now trying to get everything sorted out for him for the up-comming season.
To say this engine is a headache is no exaggeration.
Anyway the impellor needs changing, to my knowledge the lower leg has definitely not been off for 8 years plus !!!!!.
How any water is pumping through this engine beats me.
Ive managaed to get all the bolts out the leg and disconnected the gear linkage at the head.

All ive managed to do is to get the leg to drop about 4mm and thats with wedges.
has anyone got any ideas of how or what could help in this situation.

we do NOT have access to oxycetalene, and i realy dont want to attempt trying to undo the gearcase and go through the aggro of taking out any gears.
I think everything would probably be corroded and break if tried going through the prop and doing it that way.
Ive been giving it wallops with a hammer (not to mad) but if i hit it any harder it would probably smash the gearcase.


anyone with advice on how toget leg of please help

phill

 

[wmconway]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Try cranking the motor over with the lower unit loose and the spark plugs out. Tie a rope around it to keep the unit from dropping off and hitting the ground. If that doesn't work, try tilting the motor about 20 degrees and cranking the motor over again. If that still doesn't work, try driving a wedge in from the back side of the lower unit, not tilted and crank the motor over again. If that doesn't work, you may need to take the powerhead loose from the motor leg and spray in some PB blaster directly on the driveshaft splines, use wedges then crank the motor over until it breaks loose. Good luck!

 

[jere1972]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Well, that just does not seem normal! but guess you already know that! I've had 1970ish motors that had not had the lower end off in 2 decades and it would come right off, I would first double check all bolts are removed should be 5 that secure the gear case(I think anyway) often over looked is the one under the trim-tab, if the shift linkage has been disconnected she should drop on her own with no effort, water tube corroded/or silicone bonded to the pump housing have seen that,the only other thing would be the drive shaft is spline locked to the crank, have seen that on motors that have been submerged and not disassenmbled, or the last time it was serviced there was no spline grease added the the driveshaft, or grease was placed on top and a vacuume has taken place but still she should come apart with only light to medium effort, I certainly would not put heat on anything there is something else that is ary, these are suppose to be easy to remove, again I would suspect the spline is locked to the cranks spline journal. but this really is not advice on how to get it off, but things maybe to further investigate!

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

so far ive got 1/8th inch gap at front and 1/2 gap at rear of the leg, ive got wedges jammed in now for 3 days, and its not budging.

I am going to try the idea above about running with gearcase bolts loose or even out.
Will be doing this in a water butt with prop off .
But the idea of putting penetrating oil on the shaft from the powerhead dont make sense.

how can i get to the shaft from powerhead when i cant get the bottom leg off ????
if the leg was off yes i could then raise the powerhead from mid section, but at the moment this is not possible as far as i know.

if there is a way for me to see the shaft near the powerhead then please tell me how to get at it and ill put tons of penetrating oil on and let it have agood go at freeing it off.

i do hate it when people just dont do simple maintainance like change or atleast inspect the impellor once a year !!!


All suggestions on removing this will be most welcome.


phill

 

[boobie]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

I've heard of some one doing this some yrs ago. They lossened up the g/c and left one bolt in with a few threads. Disconnected the shift linkage and started the mtr up , reving it up and down and finally the g/c broke loose.

 

[Haffiman]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

There are plenty of naughty ways of getting it down, however some may result in serious damage. I sometimes simply drilled a hole in the leg as close as possible to the power head. Then put some wedges between the gear-case and leg, take a punch and hit the drive shaft (sideways) and turn the engine about 1/8 - 1/4 between hitting. This will normally shock the shaft loose from the splines. When finished, plug the hole with JB weld, threaded plug or whatever. You may even hang the engine up-side down and spray some PB Blaster through the hole and let it work. Starting the engine with 'wedges' between leg and gear-case, will ruin your gear case bearings!!!!

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

I was thinking that ther wedge system would be putting a bit much strain on gearbox bearings.

maybe give the hole and punch a try, im definitely ready use a hammer thats for sure.
Might try something like a blunt air chisel to shock it off.

i like the idea of drilling a small hole and filling it back in afterwards, shame omc didnt have a little
4 bolt window for this type of thing already on midsection with this engine.




phill

 

[boobie]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

This problem wouldn't have occured if the mtr had been serviced regularly.

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

"This problem wouldn't have occured if the mtr had been serviced regularly. !



We are looking to solve the problem, not have stupid remarks telling us the cause.

 

[boobie]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Well then, just cut the drive shaft off, pull the p/h off and then get the d/s out of the p/h. Hows that for a stupid remark???????

 

[Haffiman]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Well then, just cut the drive shaft off, pull the p/h off and then get the d/s out of the p/h. Hows that for a stupid remark???????

To cut it, they need access to it. What is your suggestion - chainsaw and cut the leg AND shaft?? One thing is resolving a problem, next to prevent it from happening again. I somewhat agree with the original poster!

 

[boobie]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

If they have a gap between the g/c and the lower unit, get a sawsall with the right blade and slice the water pump , d/s and all. Which I think they said they had a gap in an earlier post!!

 

[jere1972]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Maybe at this point, the engine should be taken to a service center! Before unrepairable damage is imposed!

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

Boobie is definitely a good name for you.

with a gap of 1/2 inch at the front of the leg how would you get at the shaft ?
the shaft is around 2 inches higher up than you can possibly at.
from the transom end you would also have to cut through the gear selector shaft .
by the time youve destroyed a waterpump 4 bolts and a drive shaft and exhaust, would it realy be worth doing ?
NO obviously not

as for taking it to a service centre, no marine shop will take on such an old engine.
they realy dont like engines that have this type of problem.
it would cost atleast twice its worth to get it done at a marine shop in the uk.

engine is about to be hung upside down with a few pints of deep penetrating oil poured down the midsection.
if this dont do it then we are gonna rig up a completely different water pump system for it.

we will use this engine for experiment, if we are successfull in what we have in mind then ill probably do it to
a few other engines as well,for emergency back up.

will keep you posted if it happens, and will take pics etc

 

[boobie]

Re: Evinrude 50hp driveshaft stuck, cant get leg off

O'Well, I guess you haven't worked on to many salt water mtrs if any at all. There's more tricks in the bag but with your attitude I don't think I'll tell you!!!!!!!!! Good Luck!! LOL