Shortening shaft on Mercury 9.9 4-stroke

dubbs004

Recruit
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
1
I purchased a used 9.9 4-stroke to be used as a kicker motor on my fishing boat. The motor runs great and I'm very happy with it except for the shaft length, The previous owner had the motor on a bigger boat and had the shaft extended from a long shaft (20")to an extra long shaft (25"). My boat doesn't need the extra length so I would like to remove the 5" spacer and convert it back to a long shaft. He gave me the shorter driveshaft, water tube and shift linkage with the motor.

I don't have any special tools or much experience working on outboards. Is this a job I can tackle on my own? Do you have to remove the prop shaft and pinion gear to remove the driveshaft, or can I pull the driveshaft out and slide the new one in? Am I better off just installing a riser on my transom so the motor sits higher?

I appreciate any feedback.
 

Chigwalla

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 11, 2017
Messages
109
At the very least, you're going to have to pull the bearing carrier out which can be a pain.

OTOH, you should have no trouble finding someone willing to trade gearcases (or motors).
There are loads of 20" shafts (around here at least) but fewer 25" - shouldn't be too hard to find someone to swap gearcases (or complete motors). We probably sell 5-10 of the 20" for every 25"
I'd budget an hour or two of a tech's time to have your 'new' motor checked out before you commit to the trade though.
 
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