69 20hp driveshaft woes

got my impeller/housing/wear plate kit in the mail today and begun removal of my lower unit (69 johnson 20hp shortshaft tiller) got the lower unit off with a little resistance.
when i went to remove the o-ring from the top of the drive shaft i notice a hard substance possible some ancient rtv anyway upon reinstalling i began to run into trouble getting the shaft to line up, additionally i hear a noise i recognize. it sounds "springy" i pull the shaft out and inspect only to find BEARING PIECES! damitol a simple waterpump replacement just turned into a full blown powerhead removal!
i looked at the diagram to find the only spring in that particular hole is on the lower crank bearing. im currently formulating new curse words and canceling fishing tomorrow night
anyone else have this poor experience?

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

these "bearing pieces" came out on the top of the d/s splines? you may be looking at pieces of the inner "female" lower crank that the d/s fits up into. You'll know more when you have the powerhead off and can inspect it.

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

Sounds like the carbon seal assembly to me. Sorry, the powerhead has to come off. That busted seal will let water into the crankcase, which will totally destroy the powerhead.

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

Bearing pieces was probably a misnomer "hopefully" i need to inspect. just out of curiosity what is the purpose of the spring? and yes they are black carbon colored

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

the spring and its assembly hold the graphite seal against the bottom of the lower crankshaft main bearing surface...there's a rubber oring inside the graphite seal as well...the purpose is to seal the lower portion of the crankcase

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

well i removed the powerhead a few minutes ago.
and luckily found that the lower bearing is still nice and tight, however theres a few pieces floating around that are NOT where they are supposed to be.

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

yep....the seal assembly is fubar.

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

I thank the boat gods its only the seal!
i was irritated that it broke. however if it were that brittle im glad it did before i was out on the water with it. !

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

does anyone know of a kit or do i just need to go individual?

Re: 69 20hp driveshaft woes

individually I think...definitely the seal and oring...if the surfaces of the upper and lower spring retainers are smooth you can probably reuse them , the spring, and the snap ring...looking at the parts diagram I can never tell which oring is which so I order both...the graphite seal has one side with 2 small notches that I've assumed are for an oil channel and put that side against the lower main...I may well be wrong in that but I've never read which way is correct...you'll probably need another powerhead to exhaust housing gasket ...cleaning the exhaust area of the powerhead while it's off might be timely as well