1973 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

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BigB9000

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1963 6hp johnson, some salt corrosion.

I'm trying to make it a short shaft, so the plan was to remove the shaft, and install the shorter one I have. However, the darn thing wont come out! Am I missing something? (Yes, I removed the impeller & housing)
 
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F_R

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Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

BigB9000 said:
1963 6hp johnson, some salt corrosion.

I'm trying to make it a short shaft, so the plan was to remove the shaft, and install the shorter one I have. However, the darn thing wont come out! Am I missing something? (Yes, I removed the impeller & housing)
Click to expand...

It must be severely worn where it goes into the shock absorber. I suggest you remove the whole thing and then you can deal with it in the open. By whole thing, I mean the bearing plate which is below the water pump plate. You already have the screws out, now just pry it up and out. The only thing holding it is the gasket.

When you get it all out, hold the shock absorber and turn the drive shaft opposite from it's normal rotation to "unhook" it.
 
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BigB9000

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Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

F_R said:
It must be severely worn where it goes into the shock absorber. I suggest you remove the whole thing and then you can deal with it in the open. By whole thing, I mean the bearing plate which is below the water pump plate. You already have the screws out, now just pry it up and out. The only thing holding it is the gasket.

When you get it all out, hold the shock absorber and turn the drive shaft opposite from it's normal rotation to "unhook" it.
Click to expand...

yeahp, you lost me....

I removed the plate below the water pump plate (held in by gasket) but I see nothing more down there, no shock absorber or anything of that nature.

When I say its stuck, I mean it. the thing can be pushed down about 1/64 of an inch, but will not come up one bit.

l_cd818b39274a4585b469a4ca17a65f36.jpg

also, turns out the engine is a 1973.... oops
 
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F_R

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Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

Re: 1963 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

BigB9000 said:
yeahp, you lost me....

I removed the plate below the water pump plate (held in by gasket) but I see nothing more down there, no shock absorber or anything of that nature.

When I say its stuck, I mean it. the thing can be pushed down about 1/64 of an inch, but will not come up one bit.

l_cd818b39274a4585b469a4ca17a65f36.jpg

also, turns out the engine is a 1973.... oops
Click to expand...

Oh, well that 10 years makes quite a difference. There is no shock absorber in a 1973. But still, the drive shaft is just a slip fit into the pinion gear (with a key). It should just pull out real easy. But since it doesn't, it obviously must be rusted in or something. Hard to say exactly what is wrong without looking. One thing for very sure--it ain't normal.

What I'm wondering now is if the shaft is rusted in the pinion gear, what does the rest of it look like in there? Sounds to me like a complete tear-down and inspection is in order.
 
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BigB9000

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Re: 1973 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

lower unit is the only thing corroded on the whole outboard.

The drive shaft is rusted, pitted, and looks like crap.

I pulled and pulled and pulled, and smacked while pulling. its not coming out.

Should I remove the bottom half of the lower, and take it apart that way? or will that even work?
 
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F_R

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Re: 1973 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

BigB9000 said:
lower unit is the only thing corroded on the whole outboard.

The drive shaft is rusted, pitted, and looks like crap.

I pulled and pulled and pulled, and smacked while pulling. its not coming out.

Should I remove the bottom half of the lower, and take it apart that way? or will that even work?
Click to expand...

Yes, remove the skeg. Then everything will come out in your hands. I am reasonably sure the drive shaft and pinion gear will then come out from the bottom. "Reasonably sure" because of course I've never had to resort to such a thing. You will probably have to clean the rust and crap off the shaft first because it has to come down through the pinion bushing. You will also have to remove the pin from the top end of the shaft. Once you get that assembly out, you can beat or press the shaft out of the pinion gear. Let us know what you find in there. As I said, it is "supposed" to come out very easy.
 
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BigB9000

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Re: 1973 6hp; Drive shaft stuck in lower unit

Removed skeg, shaft did in fact come out through the bottom, no problems there.

The gear looks fine, the lower half of the shaft looks fine, don't know why It was stuck.

I pulled and pulled and smacked, and got the gear off, and the key went flying somewhere. SO I don't know for sure if the key was the problem, but I'm guessing so.

l_801fc72f6b5649a8b5499118e2150f4f.jpg


Now I just need to get some seals and whatnot, and I should be good....
 
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