1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

[duckhunter1987]

First off this is my first post on this website although I've been creeping on here for a few months now. Great site with a lot of great information. I've already learned a lot! Heres my question, I bought a 1981 Johnson 35 shortshaft tiller earlier this year. The guy I bought it off of makes his living as an at home boat mechanic. I found the add on craigslist, went up and checked it out. He had it in a test tank, fired right up, idled smooth as butter, revved clean, shifted back and forth smooth and clean and revved great while in forward and reverse. I bought it, bring it home, put it on my boat and head straight to the lake. Put it in the water, started right up, put it in forward and putted my way to the no wake bouy, rolled on the throttle and when it got under load, bang, came out of gear. It did not jump back into gear, just kicked out and stayed out. So i tried it again, same thing. One last test, i held the lever into gear. Remember this is a tiller steer so Im shifting with the lever on the side of the motor. While holding the lever forward into forward gear I start rolling on the throttle, the lever starts pushing against my hand and I cant hold it anymore, it jumps out of gear. So I take it back, he puts different ( not new) gears in it, I pick it up, take it to the lake, same exact thing. I take it back, He puts new forward and clutch dog in, I go pick it up, same exact thing. He showed me receipt and boxes for the new parts. I took it back up to him yesterday. He thinks he knows the problem now. The shaft that the shift lever hooks to and runs inside the case has some slop in it. Im assuming that the hole is wallered out and the shaft is worn.
OMC, Johnson & Evinrude - EXHAUST HOUSING - 1981 Johnson/Evinrude 35 Where part 39 goes into the case is where i think the slop is coming from. So what do you guys think? In most cases I would have taken this motor back and walked away but, this is the only 35 short shaft tiller Ive ever came across and everything is tight on it, the cylinders are at 130 each, its electric start with recoil back up, and would be perfect on my boat. Thanks for any input. Oh and he has a parts motor that he is going to switch out the exhaust housing with the one on mine ( number 4 on the diagram)

 

[duckhunter1987]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

Oh and it will not come out of gear in the test tank. Tried hard to get it to, wont do it. Only when it squats the back of the boat under acceleration will it kick out of gear. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

Hi
Does it kick out in reverse?

 

[duckhunter1987]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

No it does not. One thing I forgot to mention though is how far the lever travels back into reverse. Im not really sure how to explain this but if the shift lever moves three inches back into reverse, it only moves one inch forward into forward gear. I asked him about the thrust washers that go inbetween the clutch dog and the reverse gear and the clutch dog and the forward gear because I seen they have different part numbers which I assume is different thicknesses. Maybe he had them switched but he said they will only go one way and the difference in thickness is in thousanths.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

Mine was always even distance going into forward or reverse

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

i never had this problem but you could try this.
take off the lower plastic water intake vent (4 screws), does the connector for undoing the shift plug go up or down when put in reverse?

 

[duckhunter1987]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

everyone ive ever felt the lever moved equal distance back and forth. The coupler for the shift shafts does move as one piece, also the lower shift shaft is screwed all the way down tight.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

does that coupler go up or down in reverse?
what im getting at is that if it goes down in forward you could uncouple it and see if you can push it down further manually than what the gear lever can achieve and then you will know whether the gearbox needs to come apart (if it has no possible further movement)

 

[duckhunter1987]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

One of the times that I had it and it kicked out I put it on the trailer and checked that. I don't remember for sure but I think it went down when put it reverse and up when put it forward. I put it in forward, unhooked the coupler and pulled up on the lower shift lever. It wouldn't move up anymore. Whatever way it moved when unhooked from the upper shift rod the lower wouldn't move anymore in that direction, so its moving the lower shift rod as far as its supposed to. I also asked him about the detent balls and he said that everything in the lower unit is working like its supposed to. So he is sure its the slop in the shift lever. Although that to me doesn't explain why the lever moves so far back into reverse and only a little into forward.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

If you have split ring pliers take it apart yourself. As since its being done recently you wont have any seized in parts and you will be able to check that it has being done as he said. Careful taking out the split ring as they are dangerous if released off your pliers suddenly , i put them under my shoe and gently ease off
Collect and reuse the oil, its cheap to replace, the oil needed for a 35hp would be less than the standard 500ml container that they come in

 

[duckhunter1987]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

He has it right now, but whats kept me from taking it apart myself is I guess If I find something wrong that would be expensive to replace I don't want to loose the ability to get my money back on it. I know if I tore it apart with a service manual I would find out whats wrong with it. I'm just looking for opinions of what could cause this to know how serious it could be (expensive is more like it). Ive read a lot of posts about forward gears and clutch dogs with them jumping out of gear but everyone says that they will jump right back in. This kicks out and stays out until you put it back into gear. He is swapping out the exhaust housing with one off of a parts motor he has and I told him that if that doesn't work that that will be it for me on it. Either money back or some and ill go through the motor myself. Too bad short shaft 35 tillers aren't a dime a dozen.....

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1981 johnson 35 kicks out of gear

Exhaust housing wont change a thing, the problem is in the gearbox if as you said you couldnt get anymore movement when you disconnected that lever.
If hes replaced the clutch dog then the only other pricey thing would be a forward gear as the driveshaft pinion seems ok as its ok in reverse.
Ask him why with the coupling undone behind the plastic cover it isnt moving any further forward in forward than it does with the lever (that rules out the lever play theory)