1990 Johnson Sailmaster 8HP model J8SRLESR gear issues

[bigcatchstarn64]

motor running in F
Motor running in R
Motor running in F

I have recently purchased this motor off a guy who had it on his sail boat, I needed one for my jonboat. It is an extralong shaft so I need to raise my transom for it to be seated properly on my boat but besides the point. while working on it I noticed that 2 of the 4 ball bearings in the lower unit gear case were missing so I replaced them and set the lower shaft back into place. While I am running the motor in neutral, the prop doesn't turn which is good lol. When in reverse it turns the water like crazy in the bucket I test it in. But while it is in forward, I notice it doesn't cause as much water to be moved around so I don't think it is fully engaging into F, but seems to go into R and N just fine. When i placed the lower unit back into the upper, I placed the motor in R gear and turned the prop slowly counter clockwise so it would set properly up into the upper unit gears. Is this incorrect?

I guess my whole question is when setting the lower unit back into the motor, what is the proper procedure.

 

[hardwater fisherman]

You need more water in your bucket.

 

[bigcatchstarn64]

This was just to see the propeller better. The water is actually about 3-4" above where it intakes the water and is peeing ok. There is normally more water in there but wanted to be able to see the prop better. Thank you for the heads up

 

[Vic.S]

I take it that when in forward gear you can spin the prop freely?

Are you sure the two balls that engage the forward gear are actually in place, not fallen out while you were reassembling it.

Is the spring #10 OK ?

Is the cam #29 OK.

Is the shift lever moving fully to the forward position?

Have you messed with the bevel gears between the shift lever and the shift rod

What you were doing when you turned the prop while reinstalling the lower unit was to align the splines on the drive shaft with the splines in the crankshaft

You realise I hope that the Sailmaster is fitted with low pitch high thrust prop suitable for a slow moving displacement hull, like a sailing boat. You will be disappointed if you use it on a high speed planing hull without changing the propp

You should be able to sell the Sailmaster prop as they are no longer available. I you were in the Uk I'd buy it!

 

[bigcatchstarn64]

The balls were sitting on the side instead of top and bottom to prevent from falling out lol and yes the spring seems fine, not completely comfortable with fully disassembling the lower unit but the cam seems fine from looking into that area all the way in the back. I am not truly worried about the prop just yet since it seems to be having issues going into gear lol but definitely THANK YOU for the heads up on the prop! It's like it SHOULD be going into gear just fine since when motor is not running, I get resistance when manually trying to turn the prop while motor is in F and R gear but prop spins free by hand when in N position.

 

[bigcatchstarn64]

also, since I do have a sailmaster, If i order the propeller off this diagram or with the part number off this diagram, It should be the proper one That I can make use of and not the low pitch high thrust prop correct? Thank you so much for all the info and help!