Looking for Johnson 5.5 hp propeller

Wolfs_hell

Cadet
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
10
I'm looking for a three blade prop for my 1954 johnson cd-11. I beleive the orginal is 8x7-1/4". I under stand the three blades were 8x7 or 8x7-1/2 and had a bit more bite and performance than the two blade weedless prop i have. Havent been able to find one for sale, so anyone know of one or another type that i can modify to fit?
 

F_R

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
28,226
What kind of boat are you running it on? Is it something unusual? Pretty hard to make a significant improvement over the original equipment prop unless you are shoving a large sailboat or something.
 

Wolfs_hell

Cadet
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
10
14 foot jon boat. I have a freind who had an older Johnson 5.5 before, and he told me you get better performance with a three blade of a similar pitch over the curvy two blade weedless. The three blades supposedly have less slip and more bite du to the extra blade and the shape of the blades.
 

RCO

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
350
Given the same pitch, more blades will give a better hole shot, but not any better top speed. Hole shot isn't really even relevant with a 5.5 on a 14ft jon. There are three blade props that will fit your motor, but they are all going to have more pitch and slow your top end noticeably, and strain the motor. OMC used to offer lower pitched props for some of the small motors for pushing heavy loads, but on a standard weight small boat you would most likely over-rev the motor at full throttle. I'm not sure what your expectations are of your 5.5. IMO if you want better all around performance you need to go to something in the 10hp range. The 5.5 is a great fishing motor that will plane out a small boat between spots, and troll all day, but is never going to be fast.
 
Top