HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

[electric man]

have a 1977 johnson 85 hp v4 lower unit wont drop, have removed the 4 outside bolts and the two bolts by the prop and have undone the shift lever. it has dropped about 3/4 of a inch and that was with use of a screw driver and wooden wedge , I am nervous about trying a larger wedge to get it to drop (dont want to crack) I bought this boat from someone who had it for 8 yrs and never put a water pump on it, it looks like someone had it apart sometime before that as there were a few screwdriver pry marks on housing, WHAT DO I DO???? I have sprayed wd40 on it and gave up for the night as I was gettin quite upset !!! any help please ,,,,,am I missing something? I undid the shift lever completly unless there is something else , I have made sure it moves freely and ain't catching on nothing, I have read in different places about a screw or pin that on some motors have to be removed, but I have LOOKED for 1 hour and see nothing. I think the lower unit is rusted on the shaft , but who knows,,,,please any advice is wanted on this

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

did you remove the trim tab and the bolt under the tab? If so, it probably is rusted on. Use the wedges and take your time. It may take days for the wedges to do the job..

 

[brother chris]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

I think I can offer some assistance on this one. <br />On my 55hp rude there is a bolt that has to come out, just under the carb. <br />Take a looksee and if it has the same set up, just undo the bolt and off comes the leg.<br />You might want to put a bolt or two back in the leg, cause the full weight of the leg is on the bolt you have not undone yet. <br />I'm sure if I am not 100% where the bolt is, someone on here will know.<br />Hope that helps.<br />Cheers,<br />Bro Chris...<br />Forget what I just said, you already did it. boy I got to learn how to read. Sorry , tried to help.

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

rick , are u saying start with small wedges and let sit and them go with a little more wedge until hopfully it pops off? I would like very much to come home from work and find it laying on the ground!!

 

[ob]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

Sounds like the driveshaft splines are sticking in the crank.That happens.Using the wedges as you are doing is the way to go.Also ,if it doesn't seem to want to drop down any further,run a couple of bolts back in and draw it back up some.Then ,back the bolts off,and if possible leave them in a ways so the unit doesn't drop all of a sudden,and continue wedging.This up and down procedure can help to break some of the scale that is binding the driveshaft splines.Hope you have some luck.Wedging it evenly is the key.Don't want to bind it any more than it already is.Measure the gap around the lower unit joint as you go.

 

[tangent]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

The 3/4 inch sure sounds like the shift rod is hanging up, but it could be the top of the drive shaft if it is damaged? Did you try turning the flywheel at the top?

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

I have the wedges in TIGHT. I can take a screwdriver and wiggle the shift rod around it moves freely. if it did come apart the shift rod would just be a rod with the fitting on the end of it , RIGHT? it wouldnt come out with a housing around it ? flywheel spins freely and have tried putting it in gear forward and reverse and spining the flywheel with no outcome. the motor runs perfect just not pumping water good , I think I opened a can of buttholes!!

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

also would the drive shaft still be hooked to power head or does it come out with the lower unit? is the shaft part of the crank (like a lawnmower or is it seperate and can be taken out by itself?

 

[ob]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

The driveshaft runs the length of the lower leg up to the powerhead from the lower unit.It slips into a female splined hole in the bottom of the crankshaft.If you wedge or pull crooked it'll just bind up more.Drawing it back up and then down again helps displace the scale between the lands and grooves of the splines.The driveshaft comes out with the lower unit.

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

so if it works I will be looking at a lower unit with a drive shaft hooked to it ? can it come apart from either top end or lower end?

 

[ob]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

If it comes apart from the lower end you got troubles. Answer is no,It will hopefully slip out of the crank splines and you will have a lower unit with 2 feet of driveshaft sticking out of it.The driveshaft on the lower end has a pinion gear attached and will not slip out.

 

[TxCajun]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

At least you have enough gap to insert wedges. Mine has no gap in front, and a very small gap in the rear (due to flexing of the shaft, I'm told).<br /><br />Have you tried loosening the bolts a half inch or so and running the engine forward - reverse- forward-reverse with the muffs on. I'm told this sometimes breaks it free. Keep me posted as I have the same problem. You replied to my post as well.

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

UPDATE!!!!! tryed wood wedges but they kept breaking,,,so I took paint mixing sticks and cut them 2 inchs long , i made 30 of them , i put four under each bolt hole and them hammered the fifth one in took spark wires off motor and then put in reverse turned over engine and they fell out, it must have loosened did it again putting one more shim in it at a time and it keep loosening until i had 7 shims in it under each bolt hole turn over engine and the lower fell 6 inch , I pulled it off and am working on it now.......HELL YA!!!!! let the bass boat come alive!!!!!!!!!

 

[TxCajun]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

CONGRATULATIONS! Now come over here and do mine! I still can't get enough gap to wedge anything into. Also, my motor won't turn over in gear - it must be in neutral or ignition doesn't work.

 

[McGR]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

TxCajun:<br /><br />Maybe your motor won't turn over because a problem in your control box etc. Nonetheless, it is very easy to jump the solenoid to get the motor to crank, even if it's in gear. All you need to do run a small jumper wire from the small positive input terminal on the solenoid to the large battery cable terminal on the solenoid. If you are not sure which terminal is which heres how to figure it out:<br /><br />To identify the small input terminal to jump to:<br />The small input terminal will be one of the two small stud terminals on the solenoid. I you observe the two terminals you'll notice one is connected to the engine ground via a small wire/terminal assembly. This is NOT the terminal you want to jump to the battery input (if you do you'll get one hell of a spark). You want to jump to the other terminal which feeds into the harness ultimately to the keyswitch.<br /><br />To identify the large input terminal to jump to:<br />Looking at the two large terminals on the solenoid, you'll notice one is connected to the starter via a short cable. Again this is not the one you want to jump. You will want to jump to the other terminal which will connect directly to your positive battery terminal.<br /><br />I hope this helps you out of your dilema.

 

[TxCajun]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

Thanks a bunch... I'll give that a try if it ever stops raining here.

 

[electric man]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

txcajun, much as I didnt like to do it at first, I hammered a small flat screwdriver under the bolt holes to get a little drop, I was VERY careful and had 6 screwdrivers all the same size, just to get it to split then I starting using a cold chisle to get to the point of 3/4 inch drop , it took over 3 hrs to get there! I had my shift rod disconnected but used a screwdriver to push the rod up and down to engage drive gear while the hand control was in neutral, the paint sticks work awesome, as they are all the same size in thickness, but turning the motor over with the wedges in place was the trick, I had my boat out today and it is perfect and pumping water great, I thought about puttin a little grease on the spline after I cleaned up the MINOR rust but just decided to put some wd40 on it and put back together, as I plan on doing it every year or so from now on, I dont know if the number on the impellar means what year it is , but mine said 91 on it and it had just worn out. good luck and TAKE YOUR TIME!!! it will come off

 

[Hooty]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

Stick with the greasing the splines idea and ditch the WD-40. That sh*t is worthless! Grease the splines but do not put grease on the tip of the shaft. Just the splines.<br /><br />c/6<br />Hooty

 

[Walker]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

Listen to Hooty. If it was mine I'd drop the LU again right now and grease the splines.

 

[ob]

Re: HELP!! lower unit WONT drop

Ditto on the spline grease.