Re: 1984 Evinrude 40HP (E40ELCRM) 0385656 (STOP LINK, Port) Broken :/
Greetings All, I got really tired of reading posts that sounded similar to my issue that would just dead end. Too frequently I see posts where somoene was looking for help, get some replies, & then never follows up :/ We all share a common interest of saving money and doing a repair job ourselves. Not to mention the peace of mind that the job was done right.
How can that happen if no one verifies or confirms results? If everyone took a little time to follow-up on their issue I think the site would be much better! Even if you didn't fix it atleast follow up and say you "didn't fix it and just sold the motor, or "took it to dealer and here's what the problem was..." etc. I like doing things myself because I love saving $$$ and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing it was done right and that all the parts were cleaned. loctited, etc the way I like.
Hopefully this post motivates other to follow-up!
My Story: I purcahsed a brand new Smokercraft Tracer (2008 hold over someone ordered and never paid for) with a new trailer from a dealer and was going to put a yamaha 50 on it myself that I had a deal worked out on. However during negotiations the dealer said they'd sweeten the deal and put on a used 40HP Evinrude for around the same price I was trying to pay for only the boat and trailer. So we checked the motor out in their shop and it literaly looked new on the inside. Compression was 135 psi dead even on both cylinders and they agreed to rebuild the carbs, put a water pump & new control cables on, etc so I went with it. Not having power tilt or a transom saver I figured it would at least make the 45 mile trip back to my house using the tilt lock. The tilt lock didn't last very long! I was just pulling it down the highway (didn't hit any big bumps) and noticed the motor was down. When I got out to inspect I saw the tilt lock bracket had broken. After a few choice words I attempted moving the motor and it would not budge because the
bracket was wedged (so to speak) between the motor and mount bracket and was etching up the metal on the transom mount and midsection :/
No warranty on the motor (I think the dealership probably would've fixed it) but I didn't want to travel with it in that condition any further than I had to. I also didn't want the potential of paying the dealer to fix. They already had my money and Im sure wanted more! Definitely not a happy moment/good start so I just limped it home that way. Maybe I should've properly christened the boat with some old # 7?
With that said here's a write up about how to replace a broken [port stop link (0385656)] on an older Evinrude. In this case mine is 1984 E40ELCRM (40HP) w/o hydraulic tilt/trim. I don't know how to explain how the tilt lock went 29 years before failing. Must not have been used much?
Steps:
1 - Maybe not 100% necessary but have a friend or relative help you. It will be much safer, easier, and fun.
2 - Remove the motor cover and steering arm connecting nut. Hook the cherry picker to the lifting bracket on top of the motor. Jack up the cherry picker to the point where you have just a little tension. You don't want to break the engine lift bracket off the top of the motor. Remember the steering tube is still in!
3 - Remove the steering cable/slide from the steering/tilt tube. Should be a slide over type nut at point where steering cable goes into the steer tube. This can be tricky if the bend is tight.
4 - Remove the steering/tilt tube (In the rest of the document I refer to it as the tilt tube). Once the nuts were loosened we hit held a block of wood up to one end and smacked it a few times with a 2 pound sledge.
5 - Having your helper hold the motor steady, GENTLY lower the cherry picker while sliding/rolling the cherry picker backwards. This allows for enough clearance to get at the tilt lever screw w/o disconnecting the manual hydraulic tilt assist cylinder from the mid section. The hydraulic assist cylinder will go almost horizontal.
6 - Looking at the motor from the left (port) side, at the bottom of the port stop link there is bolt with a nut goes thru the bottom of the stop link that is easily accessible. The nut is on what I would call the outside and the head (large) of bolt is on the inside. One of us held the head of the bolt with a lightly tightened vise grip while the other person removed the nut. Your stop link will now be dangling with only the tilt lever holding it in.
7 - Before the next step PAY ATTENTION TO THE LITTLE WASHER THAT GOES BETWEEN THE TILT LEVER AND BELL CRANK (It's one of those wavy compression/resistance type washers) AND ALSO TO A WASHER THAT GOES BETWEEN THE STOP LINK AND MOTOR. Don't lose them or you'll be cussing for a while! With that said, shine a really bright light up under the motor, about an inch behind where the tilt tube was and towards the left side of the motor (see picture). You will see a small slotted head screw. Head of the screw should be pointing straight down at the floor. If you don't see it have your helper move the tilt lever until you do. I believe the tilt lever needs to be pulled toward the back of the boat and in the horizontal position. Loosen the screw from the bell crank while your helper slides the tilt lever out. Once the lever is out the bell crank will move due to the spring affair pulling on the connecting rod below it. I found this to be a real P.I.T.A. so I unhooked the spring below.
8 - Congratulations, you're done removing things and you're half way thru the process. Have a beer and enjoy the successful moment! We took some time at this point to clean the inside of the tilt tube, areas the tilt tube goes thru, and the steering slide with brake cleaner and a cylindrical type wire brush. Blow it out with air when you're done to get rid of any bristle artifacts. (You can get a pack of these cylindrical type brushes at harbor freight for a reasonable price).
9 - Now, slide your new stop link on to the tilt lever (I don't think you can put it on wrong) followed by the flat washer (goes between inside of stop link and engine mount) and slide the tilt lever into it's original hole. You will notice that the end of the tilt lever has a section that is smaller in diameter and also has a portion that is machined flat for fitment into the bell crank. Kind of a half moon shape. Make sure you get the wavy washer on the end of the tilt lever before inserting into the bell crank. The flat side at the end of the tilt lever should be pointing towards the floor for fitment. This is what the set screw tightens against. The bell crank hole has the same half moon shape so they MUST be aligned to get the shaft to go into the bell crank hole. The end of the tilt lever goes all the way through the bell crank. Once it's assembled tighten the set screw (I put some blue loctite on the set screw).
10 - Next install the bolt that goes thru the bottom of the stop link. and tighten the nut. We loctited and torqued it to 12 ft lbs. Pretty self explanatory.
11 - Here's the hard part... Grease up the outside of the tilt tube (we used sta-lube moly grease since it's what we had) and the insides of the holes/races the tilt tube goes thru. Lining up the holes between the transom mount and the motor where the tilt tube goes thru are 2 really thin large plastic washers. Keeping those washers in place while trying to align the holes is a real b!tch. We started the tilt tube thru the left side first (left side still had nut on) and then used a large dull flat tip screw driver to pry between the transom mount and motor to get the other plastic washer in. A lot of motor jiggling by a helper and manipulating the cherry picker while the other person gently slid the tilt tube thru is how we got it done.
11 - Next grease up the INSIDE of the tilt tube (we used the same grease mentioned above). I don't know kind of grease the tilt tube application calls for? Probably the waterproof kind. Recommendations here are welcome. Once greased tighten the big nuts that go on each end of the tilt tube. We torqued them to 30ft lbs on each side.
12 - Install the steering cable/slide and tighten the steering cable cap nut. We wrapped the threads with Teflon tape thinking that it would help seal to keep water out. We tightened it with a crescent wrench and just used feel to get it tight since you cant get a socket on it. On the other side there should've been a plastic cap nut with a rubber seal (directional) on the inside of it. We used Teflon tape on that side as well and after getting it hand tight gave it another 1/3 turn with a pliers.
13 - Once that's all your tilt lock should now work again! Ya know I really didn't think it would take this this procedure would pretty much be the same on most Johnson and Evinrude motors without power tilt/trim from the 70's thru 1984. Evidently 1985 is the year Evinrude starting putting power tilt trim on these motors. I could be wrong, feedback and clarification is welcome.
I wouldn't recommend trailering with only the tilt lock. Since repairing I've since installed a transom saver and CMC tilt plate I picked up for $200 used. It works well. Not excited about the extra weight of the CMC plate and am somewhat concerned about it putting extra torque on my transom but... my motor runs so well I don't want to get rid of it yet.