QD-19

Kriegs

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 19, 2015
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89
I finally got my Johnson seahorse up and running really good. Used it duck hunting up here in MN. Love the motor all over again ran great!! When I was using it, I noticed that shitting it from f to n it would stay in F. But the throttle would say it's in n, along with the shifting lever. It does this going from f,n,r too f(forword) n(neutral) r(reverse) plz help!! Thanks
 

lindy46

Captain
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Nov 27, 2008
Messages
3,886
??? - you mean when the shift lever is moved to the neutral position, the motor is still in gear pushing the boat forward?
 

F_R

Supreme Mariner
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Jul 7, 2006
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28,195
Gearshift handle could be out of adjustment, or it could be worn & sloppy loose, or it could be falling apart loose. Remove the oval access plate about half way down and inside you will see the shift rod. See if you can move it up & down without moving the shift lever. It should not. If it does, the amount is an indicator or how much wear. You probably will have to pull the powerhead to fix it if it is loose.
 

Kriegs

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I know I can move it up and down. When I get home from work I will see how much I can move it. I have a motor tech look at it. He said something was disconnected in the power head the throw the gearing off. Took off the power head. Nothing goes too the gears inside. Just the out side. It is a 1958 10hp seahorse. My great grandfathers motor and boat. And yes the shift lever is in N and still pushing the boat. Some times still when I start it. I just take off slow 2mph maybe. It won't drop down to R when I try to back up or slow down to shore or a dock. I just have to shut I down. Just getting aggravating. Could it be in the lower unit gears???
 

lindy46

Captain
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Nov 27, 2008
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To be in forward all the time, the shift rod must be in the "up" position. Do as F_R suggests, and see if you can move the shift rod up and down through the access plate on the leg, while someone holds the shift handle in place. Use a long-nosed pliers. You shouldn't be able to move the shift rod. If you can, you have a problem up at the shift handle.
 

Kriegs

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Aug 19, 2015
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I tried I can't move it. Now what? Down in the gears?
 

lindy46

Captain
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So if you move the shift handle from forward to reverse while looking through the access plate, can you see the shift rod moving downward?
 

Kriegs

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Aug 19, 2015
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Yes it goes down. But not very far past neutral. I can push it down farther with my hands then it hits reverse gear. It's as if the shaft doesn't drop down far enough.
 

Kriegs

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Aug 19, 2015
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I'm going to take it out tonight to run it. I think from what I remember, if I go from forword straight to reverse it grabs the gears. That only would happen at high rpm. I feel like that's hard on the motor. I will up date as soon as I get the boat out. It might be tomorrow.
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
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Dec 28, 2013
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36,043
This shifting at high RPM will just do more big $$$$ damage.--Find out what is wrong.
 

lindy46

Captain
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Nov 27, 2008
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3,886
Sounds like a problem in the gearcase. You didn't remove the small Phillips head pivot pin to drain the oil, did you?
 

Kriegs

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Aug 19, 2015
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No I just use the oil drain plug. It gets black and then a touch of cream color by then end of October. Maybe I need to just work on slowing the rpms down to sift it smoother. Maybe I'm just not hitting a sweet spot for the gears to shift. My carb is set perfect so I think. When I bring it back to shift point it dies on me all the time. But I runs fast no problems.... When it's in the gear it should be in.
 

oldboat1

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
9,598
I can't tell from your descriptions whether it's a gear/lower unit issue, or a carb issue. Stalling when trying to shift sounds like a dirty carb, specifically the idle or low speed side -- could also be your needle adjustments. But to check on the gearcase, pull off the lower unit and test shifting manually by pulling up or pushing down on the shift rod. You may need to turn the prop when shifting to get the gears to mesh. Tolerances are close for shift points, and if you didn't properly connect the upper and lower shift rods at some point, that will mess up your shifting.
 

Kriegs

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 19, 2015
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Yesterday I was setting up my boat. Put the motor on the boat. Brought the throttle position back to shift. Where you can here the arm klunk over..... So it's free to shift. Normal noise nothing bad. Popped it into F spun the prop 1/4 turn stop back a 1/4 turn stopped. All good. Back to N spun around and backwards. All good. From N to R. 1/4 turn both ways. All good. I don't think it's the lower unit everything fit up good when I rebuilt it. Carb was rebuilt two years ago should be fine. New plugs and wires. Fires up right away. I don't think I am allowing the rpms to slow down enough to get the motor/gears to work together... Any thoughts?
 

oldboat1

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9,598
"When I bring it back to shift point it dies on me all the time."

"I don't think I am allowing the rpms to slow down enough to get the motor/gears to work together..."

I think you have carb issues. If your carb is clean and adjusted, you can move smoothly in and out of gear at idle (around 650 rpms) -- no stumbling or stalling. I would take the carb apart and thoroughly clean it, set the needles, and do the "link and sync".
 

Kriegs

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 19, 2015
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89
I have adjusted the carb before where it was nice and smooth down to the shifting points but then it will only go about 5mph on at 12ft boat. The way it is now I'm getting 20mph top end. When there is very little wind
 

Kriegs

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 19, 2015
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Just got back. Crab must be set right. I ran it for sometime. Fastest I reached was 16mph. Wasn't totally planed out. I would throw the motor back in N would idle good speed. Throw it in to reverse it would start to move the boat chuge then shut down.... Then hard to start back up again... Any thoughts. I find it hard to believe it's the crab. Because the motor works great in N and F.
 

lindy46

Captain
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Nov 27, 2008
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3,886
How are you adjusting the carb? You should run the engine at WOT and adjust the lower (high speed) needle slightly back and forth until you get optimum rpm's/speed. Then slow it down to trolling speed and adjust the top (slow speed) needle to best idle performance. Once set, you shouldn't have to readjust them much. Make sure the packing nuts are tight enough so the needles don't vibrate loose. Once adjusted this way, the motor should run fine whether in forward, neutral or reverse. If it dies when you put it in reverse only, then the problem is something binding/worn in the gearcase.
 

Kriegs

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 19, 2015
Messages
89
Yeah I was thinking the reverse gears are binding or some of the teeth are missing on the gear.
 
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