lazyriverrat

[lazyriverrat]

I have an 8 hp Mercury motor vintage about 1982 that was always a fast start and never gave me any problems until last week. I was running the motor on a fishing boat in the river and did'nt feel like the motor was doing full speed at wot in forward. I pushed the control grip handle under pressure and heard a clicking noise that put the speed i was going into even a lower range. Took the boat to a local mechanic and he showed me that the connecting rod popped off the cam on the front and back. He had the motor for a week and gave it back to me. I took it out and was able to shift into the other positions for several times when the same problem occurred. All he did was lubricate the linkage and pop the connecting rod back into place. The only thing that saved me a long row back to the dock was the fact that I knew what part of the motor needed to be looked at. I had to manually reconnect the front of the rod to the cam it was attached to and physically hold it in place to shift the boat from neutral into forward gear. After doing this multiple times the plastic socket where the cam ball attaches became very sloppy and loose, not tight fitting like it should be. I dropped the motor off again and am waiting for the results. I think this mechanic is doing trial and error repairs without knowing the real reason I'm having the problem in the first place. I think something other than just this rod being popped needs attention to see why it is not shifting smoothly to begin with. Lubeing everything only seemed to work for a short time. Any and all comments welcome at this point. Maybe I can save my mechanic some time with experimentation.

 

[oldman570]

Re: lazyriverrat

If the linkage ball is lose , it will cause the motor to not shift correctly , as it will not put the motor in gear all the way as it should. Worn linkage will need to be replaced and lubed more often. You need to check the gears and clutch in the LU also. While there you might want to rep;ace the water pump impeller if it has not been changed within the last three years.
Oldman570

 

[lazyriverrat]

Re: lazyriverrat

Thank you very much for the reply to my problem. I will tell the mechanic to open and inspect the lower unit to check the gears and the clutch to see if they are worn and to also to replace the impeller on the water pump. I'll get back to you with the results. Do you know what ballpark figure a job like that should cost if gears and clutch are worn and need to be replaced along with the impeller ???

 

[oldman570]

Re: lazyriverrat

Cost of replaceing parts in the LU will depend on just what is bad and labor rates in your area. I would request that the shop contact me so I could inspect the items that they belive needs to be replaced before them doing so. A complete rebuilt LU can be bought from several places sometimes for alot less than what a shop will charge to rebuild the one you now have. I would try the LU out on the water first before making any decison on rebuilding it. It might be just fine as is. Linkage can be bought used from any of the salavage yards that are listed here for less than one would pay for new. The linkage is more than likely you biggest problem and not the LU its self.
Oldman570

 

[lazyriverrat]

Re: lazyriverrat

Thanks again for the additional commentary Oldman 570. Two heads are always better than one when trying to fix a problem or to find a solution to one. Us nubies place great dependance on experienced people like you who have been around long enough to give insight to perplexities that new commers to the boating world have to deal with to keep their passion for the activity going strong and we appreciate very much the information that you supply to us. Lets hope my problem is an easy fix and that once I get the motor back it will continue to serve me as well as it has for the last 30 years. I'll follow your last advice to me and update here after the motor is returned and gets wet a few times without going down again.

 

[lazyriverrat]

Re: lazyriverrat

Well I got lucky. Seems that once the cup was replaced on the linkage rod so it connected tighter to the ball on the linkage rod shifting was no longer a problem. I plan to keep the linkage lubricated often to make sure that there is less than needed stress on the link carriers for shifting and hope that will be the end of my problem for the long term. Fingers crossed.