1984 3.5hp lower unit oil seal replacement

[Schnidly]

Dear Forum, can someone give me direction to remove the cover nut for the propeller shaft on my lower unit? My serial number is 6298133 if someone wants to take a look the parts diagram to see what I am talking about. It has 4 slots around the edge where to put a cover nut tool, but finding this tool seems to be impossible. Is there a chance I can use a flat ended punch to tap on the indents on this ring to remove it? I need to replace the oil seal on the propeller shaft and thus have to remove the prop shaft and bearing carrier to get to it. Please advise. Maybe somebody has a homemade tool they made or Im just missing something here? Thanks so much

 

[tpenfield]

I recently did the same for a 1969 7.5 hp and the tool for that is 91-99222T. However the 3.5 hp might be different. I would not recommend trying to remove the cover nut with just a punch tool (or similar) on the indents, as the cover nut is very soft and easily deforms. I tried doing that and ended up breaking the cover nut. Had to buy a new one.

Maybe check the oldmercs . com site to see if the tool is the same or if they reference another one.

It took me a while to find the P/N for the tool . . . does not seem to be well published.

 

[Schnidly]

OK, I did figure another method for taking the cover nut off of the lower unit. I have a small long nosed vise grip which I adjusted to the diameter of the indents on the cover nut. I then used an adjustable wrench on a flat spot on the vise grip as the tip of the vise grip was seated in the indents on the cover nut. This worked pretty good. I had soaked the cover nut threads in penetrating oil for a couple days prior to attempting this without a spanner wrench. It worked like a charm. Hope this helps someone out sometime.