Tiller joint problems

[ohm116]

I went and installed the new throttle gear on my SeaKing 12 yesterday and reinstalled the tiller. After installing the tiller I noticed the gears in the tiller joint were not meshing very well and skipping over themselves. Today I tried to install a washer on shaft that is in the tiller bracket to move it further out so it makes better contact with the gear in the tiller. This helped and when the tiller is in the horizontal position the gears are almost completely up against each other but at higher angles they well still skip so I think I just need to replace them entirely. I was reading that the older style gears are more flat like mine and tend to wear out easier, like mine, and that the later ones have teeth that stick out more to engage the other gear better. I was looking on ebay and could not find a set of shafts and gears for a 12 hp Seaking or a 15 hp Evinrude but there are plenty of ones for 5.5 Johnsons and Evinrudes as well as 7.5 ect. Well a set from one of the other motors work on this motor as well?

Thanks as always
Nathan

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Tiller joint problems

I think you're on the right track, but I would check interchangeability on the Ask A Member board at www.aomci.org
and use their free classifieds to find a replacement tiller arm or gear. I suspect the 1956-60 15 or 18 hp OMC/Gale motors would fit the bill.

 

[ohm116]

Re: Tiller joint problems

I went down to a local shop today to see if they had a recoil spring, they did, and was talking with the owner and he said to just bring down the two old shafts and he would find a set of used ones that are the same length. I forgot about this shop, they were working on a 60's runabout with two 50's vintage Evinrudes on the back, a 7.5 kicker and what looked like a 35 as well.

 

[ohm116]

Re: Tiller joint problems

I took the old shafts and gear to this shop I found and they were able to find a set of the newer style gears and shafts that were the same length. For $40 I picked up both shafts/gears as well as a recoil starter unit for spare parts.