"72 50hp Johnny

Model number 50ES72C. Is this an electric shift model?

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

That should be a 15" electric start remote steering model. It is not electric shift. Its what they called Hydro-electric shift. It is preloaded to forward and shifts into neutral and reverse by hydraulic pressure once the flywheel (therefore the driveshaft and the oil pump) is moving.<br /><br />Joe Reeves has an excellent description that will give a lot more detail. I'm sure he'll be along shortly.

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

Thanks. If I remember the posts on these engines it seems that when there is trouble with the shifting then it is tough to get parts for. I also understand that when they work right they are great. Have a chance to pick one up for 150.00 and supposedly it ran when he took it off the boat last summer. hard to go wrong for that kind of money.

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

supposedly it ran when he took it off the boat last summer

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i know im gonna get locts of slack for this but i have owned MANY of these hydro-lectric shift motors....RUN RUN RUN FAR AWAY!!!<br /><br />when they work they are "ok" , when they dont work...have fun.<br /><br />if the shift wires get fuXXXd up, the motor wont start, or even turn over at all, unless its in forward gear! and it cant be in forward gear unless the motor is cranking over, and it cant be cranking over unless its in forward gear! see where im going....<br /><br />its no fun trouble shooting them wehn it wont start and you have all the normal things to look for AND you ALSO have the gear box/ lower unit and all the lower unit electricals to be worried about!<br /><br />pass on this one if you can!<br /><br />as for the shaft length, i have two right now and they are both 20", along with the other 3 i had prior to this, as was also my two 85's i had....<br /><br />there is a very good reason why omc only made this design from 68-72<br /><br />mike<br />ps, all slack can be sent to phatmanmike@yahoo.com

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

phatman, I agree with you. There has been nothing I read that I liked about these engines. That's why I wanted to ask. I need a long shaft anyway. Was just going to try to turn a couple hundred on it. I don't need someone coming back to me with this engine when things aren't right. I also don't want to sell it if it isn't. See where I am going? I'm not going to put time and $$$ in an engine that could come back and bite me. Thanks for the honest opinion.

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

acording to the factory shop manul the 1972 showes nothing about hydro-letric in it anywhere . it onley showe electric shift . it has solenoids the open a valve that let a pump push the fluid to hold it in nutral or reverse till the power is taken away from the solenoid . it will stay in foward untill the stator puts enough amps to activate the solenoid.to put it in nutral . the older modles wer hydr-letric i think . i dont have a factory shop manul on those . i do have a 1973 and it is the same as the 1972 book . there was a change in the foot in 1972. there was 4 different modles in the 50 hp . there was a standard shift modle and the 1974 will fit the 72&73 also with the changing of some parts off the power head and the removal of the shift diode.papasage

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

I'm still letting it go.

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

Theres a couple of myths going on here. The motor will start regardless of whats going on with the shift wires in the lower unit. There is a neutral safty switch but that was in the control. Since the motor would start with the control in the neutral position and it could be in gear (for various reasons including the owner put the wrong lube in), starting in 1973 OMC went to mechanical or what they called "positive neutral" gearcases. <br /><br />Any OMC gearcase that required oil pressure to take it out of forward gear is called a hydro-electric gearcase. The electric solenoids would open passages in the oil pump and move the clutch dog back for neutral and then further back for reverse. OMC marketed it as a "fail safe" unit. If you lost electric power it would be in forward so you could still get home.<br /><br />Actually once you get into them, they were a very simple gearcase.

Re: "72 50hp Johnny

Dhadley I appreciate what you said but the problem still lies in that I was just going to resell it and I want to make sure that it is right before I let it go. The other problem I have is that I keep a lot of these engines just because they do run well and I don't want to get in a postition of having and engine that falls into what I call "******* years". Meaning that they were only made for a couple or three years and parts might be hard to come by or very expensive since they would only be made for those years.