LONGIVITY

[slow_boat]

Have not participated on this site for some time & upon reading recent posts I began to wonder why there are so many posts regarding 'old' Johnsonson & Evinrude than those of Mercury engines of the same vintage. Is it because of numbers manufactured or is it just that there are more 'survivors' from J/E?

 

[KenOhki]

Re: LONGIVITY

I would venture to say its becuse Johnsons and Rudes live almost forever if properly maintained. Almost all the answere to most of the questions boil down to mainence issues. I would also say those 2 motors make up a vast majoritey of motors being used. So naturaly, more questions.<br /><br />But that is just my opinion.

 

[DJ]

Re: LONGIVITY

I would say it is a little of both.<br /><br />J/E sold many more small hp. engines than Merc. did.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: LONGIVITY

I'd say it has a lot to do with the shade-tree mechanics of the world, too. If you've got a basic Craftsman tool set and a flywheel puller, you can do just about anything needed to any pre-1960 Johnrude, whereas you need a little more ingenuity to work on a pre-1960 Merc. Even basic maintenance like changing a waterpump impeller requires a special tool, whether it be homemade or the actual Mercury-made tool. Many small Mercs (Mark 5/6, Mark 10/28) had spring loaded clutches and shifting mechanisms that required gauges, tools, etc. to work on - not usually the realm of the shade-tree mech. As such, many of these smaller motors ended up junked because they couldn't easily be fixed. If you knew what you were doing, they could be, but the ratio of those who did and didn't know how they worked was greater for Johnrudes than for Mercs.<br /><br />On the bright side, there's still lots of old motors out there, whichever your preference. There's sources for parts and tools for most models from all three brands, and they all have their followings...<br /><br />- Scott

 

[ledgefinder]

Re: LONGIVITY

Chinewalker is being too modest in not mentioning the "Old Mercury" website, where he does a great job fielding questions. I suspect that site drains off a good deal of old Merc-related questions.

 

[ledgefinder]

Re: LONGIVITY

That said, I am in the middle of raising & "D"ing the ports on an old 40hp J/E shorty, after which I plan to go looking for a few Mk55s...

 

[lorax]

Re: LONGIVITY

It seems like there are several other boards that focus mainly on Mercs. I wonder if people haven't identified this board as more of an OMC friendly outpost?

 

[steelespike]

Re: LONGIVITY

My limited experience with Mercs they are a more sofisticated assembly requiring a little more<br />skill and in some cases more sofisticated tools.<br /> Many times as a youth I worked on our <br />Evinrudes with a pair of pliers,crescent wrench<br /> and a screwdriver.<br /> The original 30 merc was faster than the 30 big twin but had (if I remember right)2 carbs,<br />2 fuel pumps. 4 plugs and a magneto distributor that was almost inaccessable.The big twin had<br /> 1 carb,2 plugs,no fuel pump and a simple flywheel<br />magneto.<br /> Evinrude also had close to a 40 year head start<br />on the first true Mercury.It was a pretty much <br /> impossible for merc to comepete with OMC<br /> Mercs success is a very interesting read.<br /> And came basically from the driving force of one man!

 

[Jack Shellac]

Re: LONGIVITY

It may also be that we seem to have a lot of saltwater boaters on this site. Historically [until recent years anyway], OMC was recognized as the best saltwater motors and Mercurys were used primarily in fresh water. "OMC for durability and Mercury for speed" was frequently heard. It's an interesting observation on the number of posts for OMC v. Mercury and probably has several reasons for it. It's encouraging to see so many old American motors still being used.