johnson 3hp 1968 gear lube???

maineiac5586

Chief Petty Officer
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Feb 14, 2009
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623
Hi, I just drained the lower unit oil from this time capsule of an outboard I got (1968 johnson 3hp twin), appears like a very lightweight oil came out (maybe red in color) The owner's manual for the motor says to use type c oil (no idea what that is?) It was for sure not regular lower 80-90 gear oil. What do I put in this, anybody know? the owner's manual says outboard oil is ok in emergency but I would like to know what to put in here. thanks
 

1946Zephyr

Vice Admiral
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Oct 21, 2008
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5,556
Re: johnson 3hp 1968 gear lube???

Type c is for electric shift models. You want the High Viscosity gear Lube, available at your local marine supplier or wal mart.
 

maineiac5586

Chief Petty Officer
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Feb 14, 2009
Messages
623
Re: johnson 3hp 1968 gear lube???

my problem with that is the original owners manual (which is for the 1968 3 hp only) states to use type c oil. again, the lube i drained out was very light in weight, felt like 30 weight motor oil.of course someone could have put the wrong stuff in, but i just want to be sure, thanks
 

F_R

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Jul 7, 2006
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28,195
Re: johnson 3hp 1968 gear lube???

Back in the 1968 era, Type C was all that OMC made and sold. They said to use it in all their models. In later years, they came out with HiVis for better lubricaton in the high horsepower models, but that was too thick for the electric shift motors, so they said to use Hi Vis in everything but electric shift, and the Type C was renamed Premium Blend.

Now that I have everybody confused, just use Hi-Vis (or 80-90) in everything except electric shift.
 

kfa4303

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Sep 17, 2010
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6,094
Re: johnson 3hp 1968 gear lube???

Hi maineiac. F_R is right. You want to use 80-90w oil. There are many different brands, but they're all about the same.
You'll probably want/need a little hand pump too. They should sell it right next to the oil. Here's a vid that can walk you through the whole job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neYroHtSheQ
 
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