I don't have all the information you'd like, but I'll bet someone can answer my question anyway.
I have a 60 horse Evinrude, more than 10 years old, less than 20. It has a tiller, and the starter button has a mechanical interlock that prevents starting the motor unless the shifter is in the neutral position.
Last year I had the water pump replaced by a 'pro' -- a local ship in SE Wisconsin. (Turns out that there was nothing wrong with the pump. The motor 'thought' that it was overheating because of a chafed wire. A terrific shop (Reimer's Marine in Cass Lake MN) later found the problem.) When I got the boat back after the water pump replacement, the shifter linkage was out of adjustment. With the transmission in neutral, I couldn't really activate the starter button. I had to move it off the detent a little bit to start it.
I assumed that this was a trivial linkage adjustment that the shop had overlooked. I'm getting ready for another week of fishing, and wanted to adjust the linkage. The shifter handle is attached to a horizontal rod that goes into the engine housing. There is a clevis on the end of that fore-and-aft horizontal rod that attaches to a transverse rod. When I pulled the cover off the motor, I could see that the clevis was screwed as far as it would go onto the actuator rod. I adjusted the clevis so that the starter button could be actuated normally. When I tested the engine, I started it, and shifted into forward. When I shifted back to neutral, I briefly ground the gears in reverse. That made me think that the detent was misadjusted, and that when I shifted into neutral, I wasn't 'centered' between neutral, but rather too close to reverse. I adjusted the position of the detent spring plate. That moved the shifter handle forward still more. Although I have not actually put it into the water yet, everything seems just fine: the started buttons works properly, and the neutral detent seems centered between forward and reverse.
Here's my concern: I'm not sure that they would have fooled with either of these adjustments. And, if they had, I'm thinking that they would have adjusted them properly. Altogether, that makes me think that when they changed the water pump, they never adjusted, or they improperly adjusted, the long vertical shift shaft that comes out of the lower unit. It seems that I have adequately compensated for their mistake. But I'm wondering whether there's any risk in what I've done. I *really* don't want to drop the lower unit to adjust the shaft. But is there any risk if I don't? I think that probably everything that I've done is just fine, and that I should just go catch a lot of fish. But I don't know a lot about these engines, and I'd like to know if you think I've done anything wrong, taken any risk, introduced any potential problem.
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Paul in East Troy WI
I have a 60 horse Evinrude, more than 10 years old, less than 20. It has a tiller, and the starter button has a mechanical interlock that prevents starting the motor unless the shifter is in the neutral position.
Last year I had the water pump replaced by a 'pro' -- a local ship in SE Wisconsin. (Turns out that there was nothing wrong with the pump. The motor 'thought' that it was overheating because of a chafed wire. A terrific shop (Reimer's Marine in Cass Lake MN) later found the problem.) When I got the boat back after the water pump replacement, the shifter linkage was out of adjustment. With the transmission in neutral, I couldn't really activate the starter button. I had to move it off the detent a little bit to start it.
I assumed that this was a trivial linkage adjustment that the shop had overlooked. I'm getting ready for another week of fishing, and wanted to adjust the linkage. The shifter handle is attached to a horizontal rod that goes into the engine housing. There is a clevis on the end of that fore-and-aft horizontal rod that attaches to a transverse rod. When I pulled the cover off the motor, I could see that the clevis was screwed as far as it would go onto the actuator rod. I adjusted the clevis so that the starter button could be actuated normally. When I tested the engine, I started it, and shifted into forward. When I shifted back to neutral, I briefly ground the gears in reverse. That made me think that the detent was misadjusted, and that when I shifted into neutral, I wasn't 'centered' between neutral, but rather too close to reverse. I adjusted the position of the detent spring plate. That moved the shifter handle forward still more. Although I have not actually put it into the water yet, everything seems just fine: the started buttons works properly, and the neutral detent seems centered between forward and reverse.
Here's my concern: I'm not sure that they would have fooled with either of these adjustments. And, if they had, I'm thinking that they would have adjusted them properly. Altogether, that makes me think that when they changed the water pump, they never adjusted, or they improperly adjusted, the long vertical shift shaft that comes out of the lower unit. It seems that I have adequately compensated for their mistake. But I'm wondering whether there's any risk in what I've done. I *really* don't want to drop the lower unit to adjust the shaft. But is there any risk if I don't? I think that probably everything that I've done is just fine, and that I should just go catch a lot of fish. But I don't know a lot about these engines, and I'd like to know if you think I've done anything wrong, taken any risk, introduced any potential problem.
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Paul in East Troy WI