67 johnson tiller handle

my plight
im recently running a 67 johnson 20hp short shaft tiller steer
what i'd really like to do is extend the tiller handle.
is there such a thing as a longer tiller handle.
what i need it for is to stand up and drive.
any suggestions?

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

HI 67-69johnman. I have a '66 20 hp and this the tiller extension I made from a piece of thin walled 1 1/4" PVC and a couple pipe clamps. It works beautifully. In fact, I just keep it on all the time now. It makes steering a breeze and lets me stand up ion the back and move forward in the boat to see where I'm going and to get on place more quickly. Be sure you dill a small hole at the end of each slit in the PVC to keep it from running. Grad total was $2, I think.

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

Once upon a time, there was a "Gils Extension Handle". Now obsolete, but you may luck out. But PVC pipe works too.

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

They make some swanky carbon fiber ones too. I saw guy in a tricked out Gheenoe with a 3'-4' cf tiller extension. Very slick, but I think it was well over $100 :/ Too rich for my blood. Plus, the PVC actually matches the 60's era white, wedding cake look. No mean feat.

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

I like the pvc pipe. Just the fact that I can make it any desired length is appealing to me.
The shortest extension I've seen is like 14" I'm 6'8" and need to stand and drive.
Some of those things look like I could drive my motor from another boat lol.
Thanks for the idea I will be applying it shortly.

Though it sure would look sweet if omc would have had a 5" longer handle to go with the rest of their 5" extensions.

I do notice the wedding cake paint job on yours kfa
Was that color offered or just stock. I've got 2 67's and a 69 all 20's and the 67's are closer to olive drab than anything else. The 69 I would just call dark green.

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

F_R said:

Once upon a time, there was a "Gils Extension Handle". Now obsolete, but you may luck out. But PVC pipe works too.

Click to expand...

I'm gonna have to Google that

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

Here's something worth looking into .....
http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_12338_-1?N=581132574

And it's about 22.00 bucks!!

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

6'8'' Good grief!!! Yeah the PVC is great because you can cut it to length and or make and extension, for your extension. I actually need to make mine a few inches longer too, but I've seen pics and vids of guys (often in Gheenoes and the like) steering from the bow just using really longer tillers. I really like being able to sand up in the back (at low speeds of course), so I can see any obstacles that may be coming. Before I was sort of blind while sitting from the tiller position, which is ok in open ware, but there are lots of logs, oyster bars, manatees, alligators, crab traps and anything else you can think of where I usually go, so visibility is key. My motor is just a '66 20 hp and it is/was all white/cream. I just gave the cowl a couple coats of fresh white spray paint, but nothing fancy. I believe the olive color came about around '68, or so, at which time I think they kept the white top, but used the olive bottom. I think it only lasted a few years though. I'm still waiting to score an old 50's era, two tone motor, but I love my old wedding cake motor. It's light, powerful, easy to work on and always gets a thumbs up at the dock for the old timers. Here's a vid of some of the tricked out Gheenoes I was talking about. They're in water very similar to what I run in. You can see some run center consoles, others fancy tiller set ups, all of which give them great visibility. Good luck. We love pics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zC7cEuByNs (using tiller from poling platform) I wouldn't ride this way, but it seems to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8vOjs6nhu4&feature=related (zooming around in Gheenoes with 25 hp on the back.Looks like fun!)

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

I will have to view the videos later since im on my work computer. but yea the '67-69 models seem to have kepped the cream colored hood.
but in the past 2 years i've bought two motors that were both advertised as '68s both with olive undercarriages and cream colored hoods.
But by the model number on both motors (FD-21R) they are listed as '67s so im thinking maybe there were either two colors offered in '67 or maybe a midyear switch was made.
as my name suggests though im kindof a late 60's johnson 20hp enthusiast.

Back to the steering however. im now in the same boat you were figuratively speaking.
in the tiller position I cant see. Standing up i can see much better but i can't reach the handle lol.

I'm really toying around with the idea of rigging some cables up to the center seat and making it a stick steer.
only trouble with this is it becomes a little more complicated swapping motors, and im sure out of the whole deal I will probably lose a little bit of turning radius that those tiller handles produce

like your stomping grounds mine is also filled with logs and low waters. its a man made lake so most of it is in old woods and and the like.

however i dont have to worry about crab traps or manatees though lol

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

Here's a vid of a guy's homemade stick steer set up. It's definitely rough around the edges, but the concept is sound and I like that it's purely mechanical and can be cone for way less than $50 with supplies from Lowes/HD. As fate would have it, he appears to be running a '67-'68 white/olive 33 hp. I used to have a '66 33 hp just like it, last year of the wedding cake look. Another great OMC motor, but a little on the bulky side.

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

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

That does look a little rough around the edges I kinda get the feeling i would hit a stump and be impaled on the thing.
He didn't really show it in operation though. And I wanna know how he tilted it up fro travel.
There is a 66 33 HP for sale here on Craigslist for like 300 but I really need a tiller and I haven't seen many with tiller handles.
I recently missed out on a 78 evinrude 35 horse short shaft tiller. Guy wanted 75 for it I sent him like 4 emails and he never responded.
Jerk! Doesn't he know I get first dibs. Lol


But yeah the wedding cake is a good look. I have one 68 that ive made into a hybrid its a 67 power head with a 69 intake and carb. And a 68 lower end and data plate.
It a few different shades of green lol

Re: 67 johnson tiller handle

Here are some pics of some similar stick steer set ups that folks around my neck of the woods like to run. They sit in the bow with the stick in one hand and the throttle/shift controls in the other. The guy in the vid is just using a cable and pulley set up rather than a teleflex style cable. You just push the lever forward to turn in one direction and pull it back to turn in the other. Here are a couple pics. They're in the bow, so their passengers and gear are behind them (kind of odd), but they have lots of open space. You could of course put them anywhere you like.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zpY8fIfdtUQ (fancy pontoon version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYdwktdiiU0 (funky "redneck on a budget version." Note, he put his stick in the middle moving from side to side, whereas most folks tend to put it along the gunnels, but the principles are the same.