'69 johnson hydro electric shift V4

jimmbo

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That looks way different then mine. I have the switches in the controller.
I cleaned the controller, and they seem to work well. Out of the water, it switches perfectly everytime between forward, neutral, reverse.
A Johnson Control is a lot different from the Evinrude Control, but they are interchangeable with a few Caveats
Air puts up no resistance on the Prop. Water being much Denser, does load it, and any Weaknesses will be revealed.

In one of the Pics, as racer pointed out shows serious Wear on the Clutch Dog, and as he mentioned a Slow Engagement, perhaps by a Dirty/Sticking Piston. Normally the Shifting is so fast, if you Blink, you will miss it. Because of that, this Gearcases rarely need the Gears and Clutch Dogs replaced even after many years. It is my favorite of the Shifting Systems in Outboards. Well engineered and robust
 
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Maxwell-8

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May 2, 2023
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With some simple inspection ( post #14 ) it should be an easy fix.---That is my opinion.
Is the thing in the center no°10?
I will have to remove the inputshaft and then that part will come out?
 

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racerone

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It is not shifting fine on the trailer.----The clutch dog is not fully engaging in reverse.----It does not have to fully engage to turn the propeller in air.----And are the operators of this motor trained to not use reverse as a brake?----Are they letting the motor RPM to come to idle before engaging reverse ?
 

Maxwell-8

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A Johnson Control is a lot different from the Evinrude Control, but they are interchangeable with a few Caveats
Air puts up no resistance on the Prop. Water being much Denser, does load it, and any Weaknesses will be revealed.
Is my controller a Evinrude one?
 

Maxwell-8

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It is not shifting fine on the trailer.----The clutch dog is not fully engaging in reverse.----It does not have to fully engage to turn the propeller in air.----And are the operators of this motor trained to not use reverse as a brake?----Are they letting the motor RPM to come to idle before engaging reverse ?
It is shifting fine on the trailer. Looking at the clutchdog and gear, it looks like it is not engaging all the way.

no, it is just strait wiring from the switches to the solenoids. I reduced my idle speed to almost stalling to be as gentle as possible on the clutchdog.
 

racerone

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The repair should be simple in my opinion.----Concentrate on #10 and the bore that the piston moves in.----Inspect oil pump.----If rotor is good you will have proper oil pressure.---Test the shifting BEFORE installing the gearcase back onto the motor!!
 

Maxwell-8

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The repair should be simple in my opinion.----Concentrate on #10 and the bore that the piston moves in.----Inspect oil pump.----If rotor is good you will have proper oil pressure.---Test the shifting BEFORE installing the gearcase back onto the motor!!
How do I test the shifting when the gearcase is of the motor?
 

racerone

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Leave water pump off the unit.----Fill gearcase with oil.----Put negative from a battery to gearcase.----Put 12 volts to green wire.----Gearcase should shift to neutral after just one turn of the driveshaft.----Put 12 volts to both wires and you get reverse after 2 turns of the driveshaft,
 

Maxwell-8

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Leave water pump off the unit.----Fill gearcase with oil.----Put negative from a battery to gearcase.----Put 12 volts to green wire.----Gearcase should shift to neutral after just one turn of the driveshaft.----Put 12 volts to both wires and you get reverse after 2 turns of the driveshaft,
then there is surely something wrong with mine. I tried this when I rebuild it, it took constant turning to have a slight bit of the clutchdog on the gear
 

racerone

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A good unit shifts as described on my work bench !!----This should be an easy fix in my opinion.---See post #14 and act on it.----If you keep guessing we might end up with post 101 before it is fixed.
 

Maxwell-8

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A good unit shifts as described on my work bench !!----This should be an easy fix in my opinion.---See post #14 and act on it.----If you keep guessing we might end up with post 101 before it is fixed.
I will surely follow up on post 14. And I thank you very much for your input.
The more info I can get on this the better.
You never can have to much know how.

Certainly if you don't have a lot of experience on these old engines, like me.
 

jimmbo

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then there is surely something wrong with mine. I tried this when I rebuild it, it took constant turning to have a slight bit of the clutchdog on the gear
Pull the Pump out and check the Inlet Screen for Debris
 

jimmbo

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Once it is out you can clean the Pump, it certainly performs like it is contaminated
 

Maxwell-8

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The previous owner had the engine get serviced by one of the few boat repair shops we still have in this country.
They replaced the gear oil with the standard gearcase oil, and I think that started all the problems. Even in our boat club, barely anyone knows of these hydraulic-shift engines. The correct lube is only available on one website in Belgium.
 
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