Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

I am in the process of removing the lower unit on my 1976 Johnson 70HP outboard in order to update seals/bearings and to replace the water pump. The lower unit hasn't been removed in a long time, and so its proving to be very difficult.

After locating all bolts, including the 6th one under the trim tab, I had to insert pry bars to get the lower unit to come down at all. Corrosion was likely making the driveshaft stick up in the block of the engine.

Now the lower unit has slid down slightly, say 3/8 of an inch.

At this point I am stuck. Ive read alot of diffrent topics about shift linkage disconnection, and am not sure which on applies to this motor. I thought there would be a bolt to disconnect it inside the lower unit/exhuast housing after the engine had dropped down a few inches. Is this true?

Also, there is a bolt up under the engine block at the top of the shift linkage, but it doesn't appear that the whole shift linkage will slide down if I can even manage to dissconnect it up top.

Have I even slid the lower unit down far enough? I was prying and wiggling alot to overcome the corrosion, but it din't want to budge any farther.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

Are you sure you got all the bolts? There is the bolt at the shift linkage below the starter. The trim tab bolt and 2 bolts inside the leg...and the 4 on the outside of the leg.

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

I got the 4 bolts on the outside of the leg, the 1 bolt under the trim tab, and only 1 additional bolt, positioned above the prop. This did alow the lower unit to drop 3/8 inch so it does not seem to be connected to the exaust housing anymore.

I did not remove the bolt up top underneath the starter. The shift linkage rod comes up and kind of curves off the the side a little bit, before seemingly connecting to the engine by a single bolt. But it doesnt look like you can slide that entire rod down if you dissconnect it. Is there a diffent dissconnect point or is this it?

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

That's it....it'll slide out thru the rubber grommet.

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

Bingo. Great advice, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. The lower unit is free

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

Be careful NOT to rotate the shift rod while you're working on the impeller etc...or you'll change the shift height and it won't shift correctly.

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

So, I read this a little late, and I'm not sure if it rotated or not. It seems to be at the same height as the mark left by the rubber seal around it, but I can't be sure.

Any way to check the shift height or recalibrate it? I should mention that there may have been an issue with this prior to the work I am doing now, since it had trouble shifting sometimes.

Re: Help with lower unit removal on 1976 Johnson 70HP

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158088

I made a crude shift rod tool by using a piece of wood molding(similar to a yardstick). I measured the correct rod height for my motor and screwed a long wood screw thru the molding.