skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

[moriverpirate]

Two problems:
1. I think I've done it now. I was installing a Mac's River Runner rock guard and accidentally drilled my first mounting hole too high and pierced the oil reservoir on the skeg adjacent to the oil drain. Is it fixable? I tried silicone, no dice. I am attempting to remove the skeg housing to see if there is damage to the gears, but I cannot figure out how the linkage disconnects after you remove the screws holding the skeg housing to the lower unit. It dropped down an inch or two, but it appears like the shift linkage is holding it up. I was going to remove it, clean it with solvent, and try and use JB weld to fill the hole I put in it or maybe try and find a replacement housing. While I'm at it I suppose I should replace the seals, as the lower unit oil has been looking milky colored the two times I've drained and replaced it.
2. After pulling flywheel and replacing points, reinstalling flywheel, torquing it to 42 ft/lbs., rebuilding carb., dropping lower unit and replacing impeller, I installed the above-mentioned rock guard - yikes - misdrilled hole, filled goof with silicone, flushed lower unit with two to three quarts of oil to get rid of any metal shavings from drilling incident, filled it with lower unit gear lube, and took it down to the river today to see if it would start. No dice. Not a whimper out of it, no sputter or anything. I almost wore out the pull start rope, so I quit. It felt like the engine was in gear, it was hard to pull. I checked but prop was disengaged and appeared to be in neutral. I'm thoroughly discouraged at this point. Help!

 

[HighTrim]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Welcome to iboats.

Go over this concerning the outboard not starting and let us know what you find.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158071

In regards to the lu, you need to disconnect the shift rod to get the lu to drop. Can you post a pic of the damage to determine if it is fact fixable. Im sure a good TIG welder could patch it up with Argon. Not so sure JB weld will do it. Although depending on the severity of the seal rebuild, in conjunction with the hole damage, you may in fact be better off to get a rebuilt lu, then sell your current one. Crunch the numbers and see which way will be cheaper. Were the drain and vent screw gaskets changed alone with the lu oil?

 

[moriverpirate]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Attached is a pick of my stupid mistake. Notice the hole just to the left of the drain hole. I am trying to figure out how to disconnect the shift rod here at the skeg, if possible, or would it be better drop the upper half of the LU and disconnect screw from brass connector like when I did the impeller? I did replace the vent and drain gasket/washers when refilling the last time. The silicone fix definitely did not work, as the oil prevented the silicone from curing. Maybe a weld would work, or perhaps a self-tapping screw of some type? But that would interfere with the drain screw. I will check out the link you posted, Chris. Thanks.
Pirate

 

[steelespike]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Its been a long time since I did one of those but I believe if you invert the motor the bottom piece will come right off.The gear assembly remains in the leg.As far as the hole;if there is enough material I would tap some threads with a bottoming tap and insert a screw.With the drag you have added I don't think a screw head will matter much.You could also countersink the hole and use a flat head screw.Use some permatex to seal the screw.

 

[Sherman]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Pop the flywheel off and make sure something isn't draging. Thread the hole you drilled and locktite in a allen head set screw make it flush with the exterior. I can't tell if you drilled all the way through but it would be easier to tap if you did and put a set screw in from both sides.

Sherm

 

[ezeke]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Just flip the unit over and remove the phillips head screw from the other side of the skeg and the skeg will come right off.

you will find that the hole you drilled is deep in the skeg and easy to fix. Thoroughly clean the skeg inside and out and burn away any residue.

Then you can add epoxy or whatever.

I would go ahead and remove the lower unit if you have not. It will be easier to reassemble.

 

[moriverpirate]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

Thanks for the "upside down" tip! It made it much easier to see what all was going on in there. The drive linkage was connected to a yoke in there with a clevis pin with a small cotter pin in it which I removed and the skeg came right off, just like you guys said. I cleaned it thoroughly with solvent, will burn off residue, and try to fix with JB weld. I don't have a tap and die set, and one of the holes, the side I started on, is a little oblong, so I don't think it would tap and be uniform enough to use a set screw. Maybe it would. I'm gonna try the JB Weld first.
I "cleaned and burned" it, clamped a half a clothespin inside the skeg so it keeps the epoxy from flowing to the inside of the oil reservoir, and filled the hole on one side dripping the epoxy like honey into the hole. I'll let her dry overnight and do the same on the other side tomorrow.
Then when I get it reassembled I gotta try and figure out why it wouldn't start after all the work and research I did to make sure I did everything right.
It's the first time I've ever tried to tune up a small motor, done cars. I probably made some critical mistake, no doubt, left a screw driver under the flywheel or something.
Just a thought, but is it possible to misalign the drive shaft when reinstalling the lower unit? It felt like a satisfying thunk when it went in, made sure the water tubes mated, and the linkage went togeter easily. I guess I'll pull the flywheel, look for something "dragging" as Sherm suggested. Then
I'll check for spark first, then fuel.
Thanks again!

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

JB Weld is ok but I doubt it will hold for long. My vote would be to surf Ebay and visit local OMC dealers for a used skeg. If you can find one, just replace the one you goofed up. I think the welding idea is good too but I would find someone with experience in welding cast aluminum because it is a little tricky.

 

[riverjet502]

Re: skeg has hole leaking oil on '65 9.5 Johnson

To fix the hole....Piece of cake.... Flip it up side down as said above good advise there... Not sure what drill size you used to drill your boo-boo hole, but get a set screw the next size bigger then the hole you drilled by mistake. Then re-drill your hole using the proper drill tap for the threads on the set-screw you bought. Put red loc-tight on threads and you should be good to go. No welding, no epoxy... Just a tight leak free fix. 10 minutes tops....