Shift Linkage - Johnson Seahorse 9 1/2 HP

[sparklingwaterbubbles]

I picked this motor up the other day, and it runs strong, but has some shifting issues. I put it into forward and I could still jiggle the lever up and down. Neutral was hard to find. I got it into reverse for a couple of seconds, but it popped out.

Under the cowling, all I can see is that the mechanism at the top is loose. I can see the shaft that the lever rotates freely before engaging with anything.

Can anyone point me to the part(s) that affect this movement?

 

[racerone]

Drain gear oil.-----I think that lower unit must come apart for inspection.

 

[Crosbyman]

maybe check a few things before... see shift coupler. make certain it is mated properly
see top side has an adjustement to secure and line up the shift lever
However this adjustment does nothing for gearbox shifting, where you may have worn clutch dog ears or mating gear notches. (see Leroy's article next post)

Shift Lever Detents in Gearbox : If the motor pops out of forward gear, there are positive click stop notches in the shifting lever there is an Ell shaped bent spring that snaps into these notches on the shifting rod, putting tension holding it in place inside the lower unit (#26 in the exploded view ). This spring and a helper spring are screwed into the lower unit above the prop shaft which the spring detent mate into notches in the shifting rod. If your motor's shifting rod stop is non-functioning, the spring and helper could be in fine shape, just that they had gotten slid out of position enough to not engage into the rod's notches. So this could be just a simple matter of realigning them then retightening the screw once the gearbox was apart. Notice when tightening the spring, the torque of tightening the screw rotates the spring, (as seen below) where this spring is slightly misaligned, this needs to be straightened before reassembly.

btw ....clean up all that mess with wd40 and rags. ... nice motors

 

[Crosbyman]

fyi

Johnson

 

[sparklingwaterbubbles]

Thank you guys for the wisdom! The shift lever adjusting screw was just loose. I positioned the lever and tightened that thing down. It now shifts decisively and doesn’t flop around anymore.

 

[Crosbyman]

glad it worked out. now check that gear oil for water
if any got in the oil will likely be cream colored . change impeller if age is uncertain . a good carb job and service on the electricals will have you going for years just car wax it up every season for added protection (see picture) thanks for your feedback

btw that side knob is for throttle linkage travel limit to set the idle ! rotating the side knob rotates the throttle at the same time to set the limit... see Leroy's link

 

[Crosbyman]

btw i switched my 9.5 for a 1970,s Merc 4.0 single cyl. for economy... I felt 9.5 was guzzling fuel to much trolling all day long !