7.5 Sears Ted Williams

[Str8OutTha9c]

I recently purchased a 7.5 Sears Ted Williams a couple day ago. The guy started it up for me before I purchased it. It turned on and ran for a bit but it was revving at a high RPM. Is there anyway to lower this? And also, the spring on the pull start cracked, so I have to manually rewind the rope back in. He told me that he recently replaced the water pump on the motor, and he said that there's some sort of bilge pump built in also with a hose that goes into the back of the boat that will drain any water that has leaked into the boat. The motor turns on but shuts back off after a little while, unless the bulb is pumped manually. Could this be a fuel pump problem? I would like to get this motor going so I can take it for a spin. I have read that these motors are pretty fast.


Here's a pic of the motor on my jon boat.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

Your lowboy 7.5 was made by McCulloch for Sears, sometime in the 1960s. If you can find the model number, we can pin down the year for you.

Parts are a pain to find for those outboards, I'm afraid. Google "The Scott Guy," who has some stuff, since McCulloch bought out the old Scott-Atwater outboard company, who invented the self-baler pump on your outboard. Also www.aomci.org has a free classified section where you can post wanted ads.

Were they good outboards? Well, they were OK. The lowboy models were tough to work on, and those plastic hoods tend to crack and fall apart after all these years.

Some of the guys from McCulloch went on to be engineers for the Chrysler company, so some features continue on. That doesn't help much, though, for your situation.

Frankly, I wouldn't count on one of these to be an outboard for regular use. They're more of a collector's item. In the long run, you'll be a lot happier with a similar size of Evinrude or Johnson from the 50s, 60s, or 70s. You can get parts for them, and they're just plain better outboards.

 

[Str8OutTha9c]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

Your lowboy 7.5 was made by McCulloch for Sears, sometime in the 1960s. If you can find the model number, we can pin down the year for you.

Parts are a pain to find for those outboards, I'm afraid. Google "The Scott Guy," who has some stuff, since McCulloch bought out the old Scott-Atwater outboard company, who invented the self-baler pump on your outboard. Also www.aomci.org has a free classified section where you can post wanted ads.

Were they good outboards? Well, they were OK. The lowboy models were tough to work on, and those plastic hoods tend to crack and fall apart after all these years.

Some of the guys from McCulloch went on to be engineers for the Chrysler company, so some features continue on. That doesn't help much, though, for your situation.

Frankly, I wouldn't count on one of these to be an outboard for regular use. They're more of a collector's item. In the long run, you'll be a lot happier with a similar size of Evinrude or Johnson from the 50s, 60s, or 70s. You can get parts for them, and they're just plain better outboards.

Wow, I wish I would have known this. For an extra 100 bucks I could have gotten a 10hp Honda 4 stroke, but the tiller was broken and needed to be replaced. I went with this one because the guy said it was ready to go.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

Well, I'm not saying that you couldn't use that outboard. You could, and some people do. But, every time you need a part, you'll have to hunt it down, instead of just ordering it.

You'll also have to do all the work on that engine yourself, since pretty much nobody will work on them for money. It's just not a good business deal, since the repairs would often cost more than the outboard is worth, which is not a lot to start with.

The decision's up to you, but one answer is to sell it off before you get too far into it. You might be able to get what you gave for it, then go and find something else. The Hondas are nice, but the older ones are getting difficult to find parts for, too. Honda isn't quite as good at supporting its older products as Evinrude and Johnson.

I'm not sure where you are, but around my area, good-running Johnson and Evinrude 9.9 hp outboards start at around $450 and go up from there. Parts are readily available for all of them, and there are lots of folks who know how to work on them. This is a good time of year to look for one.

Or, you could go ahead and start running down parts for your McCulloch. I don't know that many folks here will be able to answer detailed questions about it, though. The www.aomci.org website has an "Ask a Member" section, where you can post questions. Generally someone there knows something about just about any older outboard and will help. Often, an ad in their free classifieds will turn up just the part you need, too.

It's your choice, really. Think about whether you want to be an outboard motor restorer or a boater.

 

[Str8OutTha9c]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

How much do you think this motor would be worth? My friend is a mechanic and he wants me to paint his jetski for him, so he said he'll repair the 7.5 and my 40Hp mariner if I paint his jetski. So I'm thinking of doing it. But I'm going to try posting it on craigslist to see if it can sell for what I paid. I'm down in Miami. I already have a 14 foot skiff with a 40 so I just bought this jon boat and the motor cause I wanted to mess around with something.

 

[steelespike]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

I think there are impellers and ignition parts listed right here at iboats.
under McCulloch.

 

[undara12]

Re: 7.5 Sears Ted Williams

My TW 7.5 has the cracking hood problem and is discharging a little water from the motor through the auto-bailer. I seems to run OK, but I have never owned another motor to compare it to. I dread the day when it needs a part I can not find.

It is hard to believe that I have owned it for 40 years. Where does the time go?