1969 Evinrude 85HP 85993 Oil Retainer replacement

[Yellow34Bear]

My trusty motor has developed a bad black oil leak out the lower unit at the propeller shaft. I accesssed an on line repair manual and found instructions to remove the lower unit and complete disassembly of the unit to get at the oil retainers,which I beleive is the problem. My question is can the two oil retainers be replaced by just attacking the problem by going in from the propeller shaft opening and removing the propeller, propeller shaft bearing housing and not all the other work of removing and disassemblying the whole lower unit? Also is there a method to removing the 2 retaining rings without the use of #7 Truarc pliers (I can't seem to locate any) if I need to do the whole disassembly.
Thank You all for any help you can give.

[F_R]

Remove the prop and bearing housing. Make yourself a couple of guide pins for reassembly, as shown in the manual.

No need to remove the bear-trap snap rings for what you are contemplating doing.

The main problem is going to be getting the bearing housing out if it is corroded in place.

The other main problem is going to be cleaning it all up well enough for reasssembly. You don't want to leave a bunch of crud in there to mess up the Hydro-Electric shifting system. It is fine grit that messes it up, not necessarily big chunks.

You need a new o-ring for the bearing housing and new o-rings for the screws.

[Yellow34Bear]

Thank You for the info F_R.

Finally found a nice day when I had time to work on the motor. Drained the lower unit as required. But found the oil was really black and smelled awful. This motor has been sitting for three years with no use. Could there be something besides the seals bad in the lower unit? It was black before but never the strong odor.

Purchased the oil seals and the o-rings as suggested, found a long 1/4 inch hex wrench to remove the 4 screws in the shaft area. Am now trying to figure out how to pull out the Bearing housing seal assembly. Book shows two (2) slide hammers and special tools are needed. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help someone can advise.