Stuck Powerhead 8 HP Johnson Evinrude Fixed and Shortened with pics

[gokart83]

Heres what we did after We couldnot get it unstuc and we tried for over a month. First we cut two wedges of wood (oak) and wraped them in sheetmetal. Put them between the lower unit and extension section of mid section. Then we used C=clamps to squeeze the wedges in until the driveshaft pulled thru the water pump housing (this destroys the housing) until the lower unit was off. We then removed the extension (had to cut it off, didnt want a 20" anyway) The power head was removed at this point. Its now apart and ready to convert to a 15" motor. The driveshaft was cut twice to take exactly 5" out of it. We then Threaded the upper and shortened lower halve of the driveshaft pieces. Used a 1/2' 20 die first and then a 7/16" 20 die. The sleeve was a 3/8 thread from Lowes that we drilled out and tapped 7?16" 20 threads thru. We then cut 5" off of the water tube. We also cut 5" off the shiftrod and used a sidearm grinder and a file to shape the new end of the shiftrod to match the cutoff old one. The new water pump was then installed and we reassembled theh motor. When putting the lower unit back on, we had it in gear, already had the coupling screwed onto the powerhead side of the driveshaft, and then we turned the prop to screw the two piecies of the driveshaft toghter.Since the motor turns clockwise, it will alwaus be tighting the coupling. The idea came to me while watching well drilling vids on youtube go figure. My dad had the wedge idea after we destroyed a few wooden wedges.This was much easier than I ever expected it to be and only took 1 day once we decided to cut the shaft. This will work even if your not shorting your motor. You would only have to cut and thread the shaft and not mess with the shiftrod or water pump. Hope this helps to keep alot of these small great running motors out of the junkpile! All questions welcomed, just keep them here so everyone can benefit from them.

http://photobucket.com/StuckDriveshaft