3 years and still no fishing...

[Wooz]

Another year later... and getting ready to take the boat out to the lake again... (this "easy DIY project is turning into 3 years of frustration...) had the boat running... rewired the ENTIRE boat/motor... new carb... new oil... new gas... newish starter... new plugs... just wont fire over now... not wanting to take the flywheel off, but looks like that is the next task... the Torque is 105 lbs foot if I am not mistaken... but the question is if it is the flywheel key, how would I know? and how would one go about replacing it....

Thanks again...

Sean

 

[lowkee]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

If it is the flywheel key, it will be obvious, as the key is just a piece of soft metal against the crankshaft. If it is twisted or grooved, it needs replacing. To replace it, just pop the flywheel and put a new one in its place.

Not sure about the torque, as I've always used an impact gun to put the flywheel back on.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

First, for the original poster: What engine are you talking about? We can't really advise you without knowing that.

Second, for the person who wrote first reply: Please don't give advice if you don't know the correct answer. Using an impact wrench to install a crankshaft nut is a quick way to ruin a flywheel or crankshaft. Evinrude and Johnson outboards require the correct torque on that nut, applied with a proper torque wrench. Too loose and the key will shear. Too tight, and the flywheel taper can be distorted, and the key will shear.

We try to help people with proper advice here. Giving the wrong advice could cause someone to ruin their outboard.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

a CAT pointed out, do not use a impact wrench on a flywheel. These flywheels have the steel hub cast in. It's very easy for an impact wrench to split the bub right down the keyway. If you have every looked at the replacement cost of one of these wheel's, ir can be a real shock.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

Agreed. Torque settings are there for a reason.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

agree 100% ^^^^^^^

 

[jonesg]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

I was wondering about that seeing as I don't own a torque wrench, I use the air tools to put the crank pulley on my car engine all the time when doing timing belts etc. But that pulley isn't aluminum. Its been on and off a few times and never a problem.

Any reasonably priced preference for torque wrenches?

 

[lowkee]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

Please don't give advice if you don't know the correct answer.

"Not sure about the torque"

What part of that is giving advise? Giving a reason why you are NOT giving advice on the torque can hardly be construed as giving advise. To the person complaining about my answer PLEASE read answers more carefully before complaining about them and mucking up a thread.

a CAT pointed out, do not use a[n] impact wrench on a flywheel.

Let's see, roughly 2,000 (conservatively) flywheels popped in my lifetime, none of them ever cracked.. all but a few replaced using an impact gun. Then again, I've used window cleaner on a laptop screen, too, and touched electronic components (thousands of them!) without a grounding strip!

Moral is: Don't assume you know more or have more experience than the guy next to you. Tricks of the trade rarely involve the tools specified in the manual. But to those who cannot deviate without getting the shakes, remember to always use a pot holder and wash your hands every time you touch a door knob.

To the OP, sorry, this place has been getting a bit too overrun with "you are wrong", with little or no actual help and question answering. This is well known by small children as the "Nuh uh!" response. These responses are equally as helpful when used by adults.

To help in your troubleshooting, the flywheel should normally only get attention if your engine is popping (backfiring) or you can't get it to run smoothly at any RPM. Otherwise you are looking for a spark or fuel delivery issue.

Hope you get your engine running. 3 years is a long time to wait to go fishing

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

Well, in the current case, we're addressing a person who doesn't have all that experience you mention. None of us know what the proper torque is because we don't know what outboard he's working on.

However, you implied that it's OK to use an impact wrench to tighten a crankshaft nut. Perhaps you've gotten away with that for years. Like you, I know my own impact wrench very well, and can pretty much get within 10% of the correct torque with it. But, when it comes to tapered shafts with shearable keys, I pull out the torque wrench every time. Costs me nothing, and I get it back to specs. Never had a key shear after that.

Almost never here are we dealing with experienced mechanics, though. In those cases, it's certainly not OK to imply that it's OK to use an impact wrench on a crankshaft nut when tightening. Now, taking the nut off is just fine with that air wrench. But it's risky going the other way.

It's nice that you can do that with your impact wrench. I'm sure the OP would love to have that much experience. But, if he did, he wouldn't be asking questions here, would he?

I agree that it's probably not the key. More likely it's a wiring problem. But, until he gets back to us with the model of the outboard, we're all kind of stuck.

Do whatever you want when you're working on outboards. Just don't advise people here to do things your way. They'll bust something and then be really ticked off at iboats.com.

 

[JB]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

1. I agree: Don't use an impact wrench on outboard flywheel for the reasons given.
2. Lowkee didn't actually give any advice, but did imply that the impact wrench is okay. If he had no advice to give, why post?

The OP needs to tell us what engine he has and what he has done (besides throw parts at it) to find out why it won't start. "Outboard won't start" in the Engine FAQs would be a good start in isolating what system is not working correctly.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

I was wondering about that seeing as I don't own a torque wrench, I use the air tools to put the crank pulley on my car engine all the time when doing timing belts etc. But that pulley isn't aluminum. Its been on and off a few times and never a problem.

Any reasonably priced preference for torque wrenches?

You can get one like the photo below. They're not all that expensive. A little awkward to use, since you have to be able to see the dial, but they work fine:

 

[eavega]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

Any reasonably priced preference for torque wrenches?

Harbor Freight has click-stop torque wrenches for $15-$20.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=807


-E

 

[lowkee]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

2. Lowkee didn't actually give any advice, but did imply that the impact wrench is okay. If he had no advice to give, why post?

but the question is if it is the flywheel key, how would I know?

Because I spent the time answering the question. Reading the lines is customarily done prior to reading between them.

As to the torque wrench. I have the click type posted above (the HF one) and it works quite well for all but the smallest of torques (it has trouble on the under 20lb range), which you likely won't encounter unless you are dealing with bolts and plastic. $20 is a good price for a cheap wrench. The craftsman equivalent is ~$60

I used the needle type which CAT mentions for years until the needle broke off (with some help :redface. If I had the choice over again, I would likely still go click-type, as you are sometimes reaching in some odd places with no way to read the gauge from directly above (think speedometer needle). Needle ones are normally longer, too. The trade off is having to guess on the lower settings.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

I got mine at autozone for about $35. It's the clickstop type. measures inch pounds and foot pounds. Small investment for piece of mind.

 

[Wooz]

Re: 3 years and still no fishing...

Well... Thanks to you all for helping out... I thought I put the engine in the post, however have not... it is a 1963 Evinrude Lark V (big twin 40 hp)... it was running, and decided it did not want to start anymore... all fuel lines are clean (from what I can tell) and from reading other posts about the engine in question the flywheel key seemed to be almost a consensus... it turns over.. no backfires but no ignition either...

Sean