Stuck in forward

[denislajoie]

I have an old Johnson Super Sea Horse 40 hp, manual shift,cant tell y ou much more cause the transom plate was changed; its white, has a wierd handle on the rear of the engine and the carb has a glass ball underneath it, pictures are coming, anyway, i took out a screw on the bottom right of the lower unit thinking it was the drain plug, when i did, something inside moved, stuck it back in and ever since, it is stuck in forward, is there more than one place that pin can go, it is about 1.5 in long and only has thread in the first 1/4 near the head, if i need to remove the lower unit can i just split it in half by removing the 6 or 8 flat headed screws that go all arount the unit or is something else gonna pop out at me... anything helps...

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Stuck in forward

Uh oh, you violated the "Never remove a Phillips screw" rule. You're certainly not the first!<br /><br />The screw is the pivot point of the shift lever, a sheet metal lever inside the lower unit. It is sometimes possible to line it up again without disassembling the lower unit by carefully adjusting the shift handle while trying to line up the hole in the shift lever with the screw hole. Usually some dental picks or something similar will help. This is actually a lot easier if you remove the lower unit from the outboard first, as you can directly manipulate the shift rod and get finer control.<br /><br /><br />Remove the cap as a last resort - you'll likely need some fresh o-rings and spagetti seal, plus some sealant to reinstall it. You should remove the lower unit from the engine before removing the cap, as it will be impossible to reassemble it unless it's upside-down.<br /><br />PS - Check out the welsh plug on the engine block for a serial number or (sometimes) a model number. The carb sounds like it's an older one, maybe a '59.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Stuck in forward

That screw you took out is the hinge pin for the shift cradle. When you removed it, the shift cradle fell out of ingagement from the shift dog. You will have to drop that lower cap to put it back. Your not the first person to do that, if that makes you feel any better.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Stuck in forward

Paul: We must have been typing at the same time.