AguaSki
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2005
- Messages
- 545
Yesterday when I went to back the boat off the trailer there was a loud clicking noise when I put the motor into the reverse gear. After hearing the clicking noise I moved back to neutral, waited a few moments, and then tried going into reverse. This happened 2-3 times, and then the clicking went away, but then I could not get into reverse. When I moved the control into reverse the engine would just rev but not engage in gear. My day at the lake ended before it started. From home today I disconnected the cable and tried to manually shift into gear. It feels like the shift rod is moving freely. I can get into forward gear easily, and I can tell when I try turning the prop that the motor is firmly in gear. Reverse is a different story. If I just manually shift into reverse and then remove my hands from the shifter, I can spin the prop by hand, but I hear and feel a clank noise on every half revolution. If I try spinning the prop fast, there will a few clinks, and then the vibration from the clink will cause a jump back into neutral. If I manually shift into reverse, and I leave my hand on the shifter to keep tension on the shifter in the reverse direction, I can kick the prop blades with my foot and it will stay in the reverse gear. As soon as I remove my hand from the shifter and I kick a blade, the motor will jump into neutral. This is a 1978 Johnson 140 hp (140TL78C). Is my lower unit hosed? I do have a shop manual, and rebuilding the lower looks complicated. My father is better at turning a wrench than I am, and he seems to think this is a doable job. How difficult is a lower unit rebuild?