1988 Johnson 70 hp question

[kyteris]

Got a 88 year johnson I need to put a water pump in, I know it has been at least 2 years since it has been done. Just recently bought the boat, and the tell-tale was going strong. Since then it has diminished to just trickling out, so think its time for a new impeller before I tear something up. So I went about unbolting the lower unit, and went to disconnect the shifting linkage, only to find that the bolt that goes through the linkage directly under the motor itself appears to have a broken head on it. At first I though it was a pin, but after talking to a few of the local marine places now convinced it is a broken bolt. My thought is, is there anyway to disconnect the linkage elsewhere to replace the water pump, or am I stuck trying to figure out how to get this bolt out? And if so, easiest way to go about it? There are no straight shots to it, actually thinking the easiest way will be to unbolt the motor from the case and pull it up to try and get access to it... Thoughts?

 

[fireman57]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

You might try unbolting the motor mounts and lowering the cowling to get to the bolt. Those things are a bugger to get to. the problem you have is getting enough clearance to drill it out. Is there enough bolt sticking out that you might be able to grab with needle nose or surical pliers after taking the air breather and carbs off?

 

[iwombat]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

Yuck! That's quite a pickle.

Like mentioned above, you'll need to take off the carbs and see what you have to grab on to. If all else fails, you could probably cut your shifter rod and have it welded back together later. I don't envy your situation one bit.

 

[kyteris]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

Nope, nothing stuck out at all. Trying not to disassemble the motor anymore than I have to, runs like a champ and I don't wanna screw that up!

 

[kyteris]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

Well, just found out how much of an idiot I was.. What I thought was a broken bolt turnt out to be a pin actually.. Was outside messing around with it and decided to pull the hairpin out of the shifting linkage, and realized that you can push it in, which releases the lower unit linkage.. So I kinda felt alittle dumb, but very very relieved at the same time that I don't have to try and drill anything out now. But at the same time already had a boat place tell me it had a boat, so had no reason not to believe it. Now I can just chock it up to lack of knowledge.

My impeller actually looked fine though.... Was kinda surprised, it had lost alot of pressure. But the veins moved real easily though, so thinking it just lost its strength.. Its been long enough and I've came this far, so I'm gonna replace it anyways now...

 

[tedious]

1988/89 70 - shift rod installation followup

1988/89 70 - shift rod installation followup

Apologize for the thread resurrection; hope that's OK. I'm glad to have found this thread as I will be doing the waterpump thing for the 1st time on my 1989 70 this spring. From reading other threads, I was thinking that I'd have to get an extension with a wobble socket, but then I went out and looked at the motor and could see no sign of the 3/8" bolt I was looking for - apparently on older models? But from this, it sounds like I just need to pull the pin in the shift lever and slide it in toward the carbs, and the shift rod will release.

I have looked at exploded parts diagrams, and they aren't quite detailed enough to show how this works - it looks like the shift rod itself has a hole in the end of it, which must somehow line up with a pin on the shift lever. If that's the case, is this pin hard to get lined up when you go to reinstall? It looks like the alignment would have to be pretty much right on to go into the hole in the shift rod. It does look like there's a little room between the lower casing and the steering arm where you could maybe push the shift rod around a bit if need be.

Thanks for any experience or advice - just a little nervous tackling this, and want to be prepared.

Tim

 

[tedious]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

someone's real world experience would be a help - thanks.

 

[ncornett1]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

just did it to my 93 johnson 60hp. you have it all correct. pull the cotter pin and push in on the arm, it will release the shift linkage rod. when you pull the lower unit, don't spin the shift linkage so that when you reinstall it will not change it's height.

i spun that rod all the way around a dozen times (I thought it was loose) when i reinstalled, it messed the linkage up and had to get help on what the height should be.

that shift linkage can be pulled up and pushed down and then back to the middle for neutral. spin your prop before reinstall and see if it's spinning freely. if it is, you are in neutral. make sure your throttle box by your steering wheel is in neutral as well.

now the fun part; getting the pin to get back into the hole in the shift linkage. i've read on here you can take off the lower shields of the engine to get better access. i should have done that. i ended up using some wooden dowel rods i had laying around the workshop and drove a finish nail into the end of it leaving about an inch of the nail showing out of the tip of the dowel, then wrapped the wood in electrical tape at the end to prevent the nail from splitting the wood. I used that if the shift linkage got pushed down while reinstalling. i spun the prop when reinstalled and it was not moving freely, so i used the dowel/nail tool to catch the hole of the shift linkage and lifted it up so that the prop was spinning freely again.

i used the other end of the dowel to push the linkage arm around until it lined up with the pin. i reached around the engine, pushed in the throttle arm that had the cotter pin in it while i used the dowel on the other side of the engine to line everything up. it took some finaggling, but keep pushing and pulling on the throttle arm until the pin catches in the shift linkage hole.

if i can do it, anybody can. good luck and let me know how it goes.

i'm sure there probably was a much easier way to do this, but experience is the greatest teacher. at least that's what i keep telling myself.

 

[tedious]

Re: 1988 Johnson 70 hp question

Thanks for the detailed response - sounds like a bit of a PITA, but doable. My 1989 does not have the split lower cowling, which I assume would make this whole dance pretty trivial.

Tim