1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

[rebars1]

While removing the lower unit all the bolts came out easlily except for the smaller bolt up high under the trim tab, which broke off with about 1/4" sticking out of the upper housing. I have tried heat and vise grips, but it does not budge, the vise grip just shave off more of the bolt diameter. Any tips to remove this bolt? Maybe more heat?

 

[Fish Whisperer]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Hey there, that can be annoying. Heat is only good when the material your tapped into has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than the material the bolt is made of, (not saying it's not in your case). Have you tried several applications of penetrating oil or WD-40 left overnight? If so then maybe cut the bolt off flush and drill and tap a new larger hole. Good luck

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

I thought the bolt was stainess steel and the case aluminum. The aluminum should expand faster than the bolt, especially with the vise grips attached for a heat sink. Maybe the bolt is aluminum also, or perhaps i did not apply enough heat fast enough. I'll try one more time, then do the drill-out.

 

[Benny1963]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

its stainless .sometimes there just a mother ,
it will come out . if not i drill them out you can use a left hand drill bit .
or you can drill with normal bits i start small then move up one size at time
make sure your hole is started dead center of the bolt.
good luck Bennyb

 

[dimock44]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

I feel for you. I snapped off a front bolt on my 1991 60 whorse. Then snapped off an ez out. IMHO your better off to just drill and tap it. Took me alot of time to grind out the ez out and still had to drill and tap. I took alot of time working slowly with patience and was able to drill straight and the tap fell back into the original threads. Dumb Luck. When I went to the shop I asked the mech what they do? He asked which bolt it was and then said OH you need that one. I did not pursue it but thought later if one of the back bolts snapped while he was working on it' it wouldn't have been fixed. I think if they put it there it was for a reason. Maybe Tasha or dhadley might chime in on this. Best of luck and just take your time.

 

[Lakester]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

I feel for you. I snapped off a front bolt on my 1991 60 whorse. Then snapped off an ez out. IMHO your better off to just drill and tap it. Took me alot of time to grind out the ez out and still had to drill and tap. I took alot of time working slowly with patience and was able to drill straight and the tap fell back into the original threads. Dumb Luck.

hello,

wow, imo, u were lucky!

this happened to me, too. it was one of the 1/4x20 bolts that hold on my water plate cover on the head. i got all of them out but one. no way!! snapped off. drilled for ez out. stopped before it broke. then further drilling went off center and so no tap would work. i tired everything i could think of... finally, had to put in my mill and mill it out, drill, tap and put in plug, drill and tap that and now it is back to service. [phew!]

that will be a tuff place to get that bolt out if u have to work on it on the boat. hope u can get it out. a local shop near me uses a cutting torch for the rosebud and heats those kind of bolt jobs up. one guy works the heat and another works the bolt... heats housing just until the bolt 'breaks loose' in threads. no doubt some experiene could be helpful here.

this could be an interesting thread. let us know how it goes...

regards,

lakester

 

[PW2]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

There used to be a guy in a machine shop in Port Angeles, Wa. that had a machine that would electronically "drill" broken bolts out (It wasn't a drill--it was hollow and it would burn them out to the edges of the threads, and automatically stop at the bottom of the bolt)

He'd charge $15 per bolt, although that was several years ago.

I have no idea what the machine was called, but it only took a little setup time and did a perfect job every time with no damage to the threads. It was well worth the price for avoiding all the potential pitfalls of trying to drill a steel bolt out of a soft aluminum casting.

Perhaps someone on here knows what that machine is called, and perhaps you could find a machine shop in your area that might have one?

 

[Lakester]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

There used to be a guy in a machine shop in Port Angeles, Wa. that had a machine that would electronically "drill" broken bolts out (It wasn't a drill--it was hollow and it would burn them out to the edges of the threads, and automatically stop at the bottom of the bolt)

He'd charge $15 per bolt, although that was several years ago.

I have no idea what the machine was called, but it only took a little setup time and did a perfect job every time with no damage to the threads. It was well worth the price for avoiding all the potential pitfalls of trying to drill a steel bolt out of a soft aluminum casting.

Perhaps someone on here knows what that machine is called, and perhaps you could find a machine shop in your area that might have one?

hello,

sounds like maybe u r thinking of an EDM machine?

[electrical discharge machine]

btw, been to port angeles a few times... am from seattle. uw grad..."gotta love dem dawgs!!"

regards
lakester

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Repeat the heating several times. Put the heat directly on the bolt. Then try the visegrips again.

If you plan to do your own maintenance, you might consider investing in a set of left hand drill bits. http://www.mytoolstore.com/hanson/hanson.html

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Thanks for the encouragement.

What is the advantage of using left-handed drill bits?

 

[PW2]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Lakester wrote >
hello,

sounds like maybe u r thinking of an EDM machine?

[electrical discharge machine]

btw, been to port angeles a few times... am from seattle. uw grad..."gotta love dem dawgs!!"

Could be. I don't know. His machine shop was located across the street from the marina. In a salt water environment a broken bolt was not an uncommon event, and in the past I'd made such a mess of trying to drill out bolts, finding him was wonderful when I'd rather spend time fishing than cursing over the workbench.

Re: The Dawgs--Lately it's been "Trying to love them Dawgs" Someday soon I hope we beat them Ducks!

 

[johnsonjunk88]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

hey rebars1 before you go cutting drilling and ez outting try using penatrating oil called KROIL this stuff is FM- freaking majic it might be a little hard to find . try a machine shop if you cant find it anywhere else

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Thanks for the encouragement.

What is the advantage of using left-handed drill bits?

While drilling they are actually loosening the broken bolt, by spinning in a CCW rotation. If you drill into the said bolt with a right hand bit, you are tightening it as you go. THere have been times where simply using the left hand drill bit has freed it up for me.

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Well, I filed two flat surfaces to attach a wrench, then heated it up. I got about a three-quarter turn then it twisted off. Filed it flat with the upper unit then started drilling a small pilot hole. It was going fine until the drill bit snapped off in the hole. Couldn't get the piece out so I spent most of the rest of the day trying to drill/ream it out. (hard to drill out a drill bit, snapped off several bits in the process). I had to drill drill small holes on either side of the broken bit until I could work it out. Finally got the broken bit out, then reamed the hole, removing most of the original bolt. Then I was able to tap out rest and lucked out by actually chasing the original threads.

Pain in the rear, but a happy ending.

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

I am ready to re-install the lower unit but wanted to coat the entire drive shaft with some grease because it had some corrosion on it when I pulled it. I'll use spline grease for the splines at the top.

What should I use for the rest of the shaft (2.4.C?).

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Use OMC/BRP Triple Guard if possible, otherwise use marine grade NLGI #2 wheel bearing grease. Because of the heat and friction at the top splines, that part should be coated with BRP Moly Lube PN 175356 or maybe brake and caliper grease. Don't pack the top or you can have it lock hydraulically, and be sure to have the o-ring in place to keep water out.

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

Thanks ezeke. There is no groove for an O ring on the drive shaft, although an O ring came in the waterpump kit. It looks like the tube the drive shaft goes into seals on top of the rubber grommet on the water pump. Where does the O ring go?

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp bolt snapped

The o-ring goes in the groove just below the splines at the top of the driveshaft. It helps to keep water out of the crankshaft opening which can rust.

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp J60ERESM bolt snapped

Re: 1990 Johnson 60hp J60ERESM bolt snapped

There is no groove for an O ring on this drive shaft. However, there is a shiny ring on the surface of the shaft about 1/4" below the splines where it looks like it passed through an O ring. In looking at the BRP diagrams, there is an O ring on the bottom of the crankshaft assembly. Since the O ring did not come out with the drive shaft, it must still be up there.