Re: 1985 30 hp johnson impeller change out HELP PLEASE!!!!
AHA! I bet your motor has the hidden shift coupler inside the water intake! Pesky engineers who added that design "feature"!!! ;(
To gain access to the shift rod coupler, remove the plastic water intake screens. Remove the screws on both sides, as a screw that goes thru one screen threads into the other to hold them together.
Once you have removed the intake screens, you'll see the nutted coupler, which holds the upper shift rod and lower unit shift shaft together. Undo the nut on the up-side and pull it upwards to reveal a wedge-shaped retainer, slotted on one side so it'll expand to snap around the shift rod. You have to remove this retainer so the nut will come down and off the upper shift rod, as you drop the lower unit.
After that, things should come apart for you. Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, it'll help to put a little waterproof boat bearing grease on the threads of the coupler so it's easy to get apart in the future.
HTH & let us know how it goes.........ed
