Quick lower unit take-apart question!

[Troublehook]

Hey I am taking apart my lower unti on my '61 johnson sea horse 18 hp. I took it to the boat mechanic a year ago, and he said the clutch dog was worn, and too expensive to fix. im thinking otherwise. anyways I ve got the fluid drained, prop off, and all of the bolts out. I have gotten it to drop almost an inch, but it is stil somehow attatched. Is there something i need to detatch somewhwere near the driveshaft, or will a little more force take care of it? I just dont want to break anything I dont have to. thanks for any help.

[Surface Tension]

You need to disconnect the shift linkage.

You'll find an access cover on the exhaust housing. Its about 2"x3/4"

Remove it and you'll see a coupler with two bolts, remove the lower bolt.

[Phred52]

Remove the bolt completely, It goes into a groove in the shifter shaft and without having it all the way out, you probably still won't be able to slide it off of the shaft. I just went through this last Friday evening, and I couldn't! Phred52

[broken_line]

there is also a screw on your sked that needs come off on.. the seahorses you have to take the egine off to get at the shift linkage..

[boatfixer]

No need to remove that screw until you separate the two gear case halves. It holds the shift cradle in place.

[Troublehook]

so separate the gear case halves. then do i still have to take off the motor? Whats that job consist of? Just a couple mounting bolts, wires and fuel lines? this is beginning to be quite the job? And random question.... have any of you heard of the problem the sea horses had with the clutch dog? the mechanic said they all had the potential for that problem...

[broken_line]

if you are jsut going to replace the gears just take the skeg of and replace from there dwom

[Troublehook]

Ok. I'm glad the word skeg popped up. I guess I'm a little outboard illiterate. is this whole thing in this picture called the skeg, or only part of that? Because if its the skeg, yeah thats all I was planning on taking off, and the bolts around that are what I have taken off.

So im trying to take that off, (this is just a random picture for the purpose of illustration) but something is holding it, and I'm assuming it must be the shift linkage as said before, but now I'm not sure after differentiating between lower unit and skeg. sorry for the large picture, and thanks for the help so far guys.

[Troublehook]

if need be, I can upload actual pictures from my motor to help you help me. I am capable of this I believe, just not familiar with all the terms.

[thedeadsea]

You can drop the whole lower unit off the motor simply by doing what Surface Tension said. It will be much easier to work on when you can just have the lower unit up on the work bench.

You may want to just find a different lower unit to bolt onto your motor. There are lots of blown/non functional motors of that era and you could probably get one for free if you run an add in C list or elsewhere.

Steve

[boatfixer]

The picture shows a "lower unit". The skeg that keeps getting refered to is the lowest part of the lower unit. The fin, if you will. The area the prop shaft goes into can be refered to as the "bullet". Thats where you will find 8 screws holding the bottom half of the "bullet" on to the rest of the gear case.

It is easier to work on the lower unit if it is removed. Yes, you can separate the bullet without removing the entire lower unit by standing the motor upside down and work on it, but it's easier to handle and you can also replace the impeller if you remove the lower unit.

[Troublehook]

ok thanks for the clarification. this makes sense now. i was wondering if that lowest part was the skeg, and if the picture was of the whole lower unit. thats what I thought. well i found the access to the two bolts, just havnt had time to work on it yet. so i would have wondered eventually if i would have to take off the skeg. good to know that i will want to when i get the lower unit off. thaks guys. ill keep this thread going if i have more questions later....

[Troublehook]

ok next issue. I pulled out that bottom bolt and at this point should the lower unit come out? I didnt want to force it for the same reasons as expressed earlier. do i just need to tug a bit and it will come out?

[boatfixer]

Yep. nice easy tug and it should come right off

[Troublehook]

awsome! it did! ill take a look at the guts of it this weekend then. Ill probly retire this thread and start a new post on questions if I have any later. Thanks for the help everyone!