What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

[Olias]

Don't know if other older Evinrudes have this same spring and washer on the crankshaft but mine does and causes me problems. I'm referring the metal washer and spring directly under the cam. My problem is that when ever I have the flywheel off to set/adjust my points the cam springs up out of position so that the arms on the points that detect the high/low spots on the cam don't make contact. So if I want to adjust my point gap I have to physically push down and hold the cam in place with one hand which of course makes the whole process pretty impossible. I think or at least thought that maybe my woodruff key was to worn so as not to be grabbing/holding onto the cam enough to hold it down in place. Have tried several different keys to no avail. Still have the same problem. So my question is, what the heck is that spring for any way? If it weren't there my cam would seat all the way down like I think it should, but, I know good and well that the spring is there for a reason. Any tips? Thanks

-B-

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

There is a special tool that holds the cam down when adjusting the points BUT you can rig something that will go over the crankshaft taper.... a plastic plumbing tube or something and hold it in place with the flywheel nut.

The spring keeps a tight grip on the cam up against the flywheel so that it doesn't float around.

 

[Olias]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

Thanks Joe. So it sounds like it's normal to pop up out of place when the flywheel is removed. The strange thing is that when I first removed the flywheel to do an inspection (just got this motor) the cam that was in there stayed down when I pulled the flywheel off. I inspected the cam (pulled off really easy so not sure what was holding it down) I saw that it had a crack running through it. So when I replaced it with a new cam I ran into this problem with it not staying down now. The other thing that had me concerned was when watching a few videos on setting points, timing, etc., the cams in the video(s) were staying down in place during this procedure so that's why I was wondering if maybe mine had a spring where others didn't if that makes sense. Anyway, thanks again for the response.

-B-

 

[rockyrude]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

To my way of thinking, what would the harm be in removing the spring to set the points and then replacing it before reassembly?

 

[Olias]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

I was thinking the exact same thing, then I realized that without the spring the cam would be well below the woodruff key and therefore impossible to set points. My biggest problem is that when I'm putting the flywheel back on there's no good way to push and hold the cam down until the flywheel makes contact. If I don't hold it down from the git go with the arms of the points touching the cam they just spring inward underneath the cam and get pinched and won't seat right when putting the flywheel on. Currently until I find a better way I have to remove the cover on the flywheel and use a long screw driver to push down on the cam while I try to slip the flywheel on one handed. Major PITA. :blue:

-B-

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

Tap the woodruff key to a slightly different position so that it puts a slight pressure on the cam to hold it in place.

 

[Olias]

Re: What is this spring for on my 60' Evinrude Sportwin?

Thanks again Joe. You're right, and I was thinking of doing that but was worried that if I tapped a little to much and angled the key to much that it would be impossible to get the cam out down the road some day if needed. I think I'll be ok though. Also per your earlier suggestion I whipped up my own little tool out of PVC pipe and a washer. Works great! Thanks!

-B-