1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

[reelfishin]

I just picked up a partially disassembled Johnson 15 HP, long shaft, (15EL78B).
It came with the lower unit off, the guy had pulled the lower and found a crack and let it go cheap. The crack turned out to only be a broken water pump housing. My question is, why is the shift rod bent on the upper end?
It don't seem to align right with the upper shift rod. The upper shift rod protrudes from a small hole in the mid section, above the 5" extension housing, its straight, and only sticks out about 1.5" fully extended. It seems like the lower shift rod should be straight? I compared it to others, the lower is not bent any different, and the upper can't be bent or it would not move in an out of the small hole in the upper housing. I have a few spare lower shift rods, I straightened one slightly and it seems to fit better and I have both gears and neutral. If I try to attach the rod as factory bent, it binds and the shift coupler is at a bad angle to the upper shaft end? The upper shaft can't be bent at the same angle as the lower shaft to meet as shown in the manual on this one since it moves in an out of that little hole? Were there different year shift rods on these?

I am only assuming that the lower that came with the motor is the correct year, its definitely a 9.9/15hp lower unit, from that era, but I can't say exactly what year for sure.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

not an expert, but probably got bent when it was apart.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

I thought the same but a new one is bent the same way. (lower shift rod).
The upper is what appears different. On my 1985, and 1979 9.9hp motors I have here, the upper housing is more open and the upper shift rod has a slight bend where it meets the lower rod just above the 5" extension housing.
This 15HP has a very small hole from which the upper shift rod protrudes from, and the rod is perfectly straight. No bend to the upper rod, (it can't have a bend or it wouldn't pass in and out of the hole. Shifting from fwd to rev., the upper rod moves about 1", from about 1/2" exposed to 1 1/2" exposed below that hole. If the upper rod was bent like those on the 9.9hp motors here, it would no doubt bind in that hole.

I've had dozens of these apart, this is the first mid section with this set up.
I like the idea of the small guide hole, it makes connecting the shift rod easy, if it would line up.

I went ahead and straightened one of the lower shift rods I have, I had to make it totally straight to align with the upper rod. It seems to work fine.

I have all three positions, and it seems to shift freely.

I'm just wondering if maybe I have something in here that don't belong.

I found this pic online, it shows how my other motors are, but my 15's upper rod is straight, making it impossible to mate up with the bent style shift rod.

http://www.sschapterpsa.com/ramblings/OB images/shiff_coupler.jpg

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

it is suppose to have about a 10-15 degree bend in it. see diagram, http://shop2.evinrude.com/ext/index.aspx?s1=bf6ad09c53cead335fcfd8a6471c0f7f .

some one may have turned it, which would throw the shaft length out of whack. you need to reset the shift rod to the right height.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

All of the lower rods I have have that bend, so I don't doubt their made like that, it's the fact that the upper rod in this motor is different than any others. On the other motors, I can pull the upper rod out the bottom, on this one, it's trapped in the mid section. The upper bends cannot pass through the 1/4" hole which the rod protrudes from. On my other motors, that area is open, if I disconnect the upper linkage, the whole rod will drop out with the lower unit.
It's not easy to do but it will pass out the bottom of the mid section. All of these are long shaft motors, the motors at hand are a bit newer though, an 1981, and 1985 9.9 HP motors. Both of those are normal. I also have a few 1983/84 parts motors and a few used lower units, all have the same mid section castings as the 9.9 HP motors, this one 15 is different.

(I've had quite a few of these apart, at least for water pump service, and never had an issue, this one is different.) I took it with me today to the dealer, who's been dealing with these since they were new, and even he said he's never seen a mid section with such a small hole for the shift rod. He even went in the back and came out with a new upper rod, and we walked back to check another used 15HP of the same year he had to see if it was a one year only thing. The upper shift rod has a slight zig zag at the top, then is completely straight down through that hole. It exits the mid section at 90 degrees to the flange surface. Not on a slight angle like the others.

I did a comparison of some parts, I see they list a different exhaust housing for the 15 than for a 9.9? I thought the differences in these motors were mainly just in the carburetor? Anyone know what is different in the exhaust housing?

 

[Rick.]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

The exhaust for the 15 is larger and tuned somewhat. Have you looked at the parts break down for all the different years to see if one has a different shift rod? I've only seen the ones like in the picture you sent. Rick.
http://shop2.evinrude.com/ext/index.aspx?s1=47fd8f7d82a6b9669c689f0818b20cee

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1978 15 HP Johnson shift rod?

I've scanned through the years I have here to compare too, but not all the 15hp models yet. I did see a lot of differences in the Sailmaster motors vs. the regular 9.9's.
This motor came from a guy that used it mounted midship on a flat bottom boat for crabbing or something, it was mounted in a box in the middle of the boat, not over a transom. The bracket was fixed solid with a solid casting. He gave me the original parts, which were removed when new. I was also wondering if its not some sort of commercial motor, but I don't seen any such thing listed and the model number don't denote anything special.

What gets me is that the parts list for this motor shows the same parts as any other motor I have as far as the shift linkage. Once I get it running 100% and all ready to go, I want to convert it to a short shaft, but all of my parts are long shaft, I had been picking up only long shaft motors for another boat I had, but the boat I just got takes a short shaft. I thought about running a bracket but it would eliminate my smaller motors for some restricted ponds. It's only going on a 15' aluminum V hull, and both boats are short shaft now, but I can't say my next boat won't be a 20" shaft transom so I sort of hate to convert to a short shaft though.