68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

[Travis798]

Okay, so I have another thread on here about losing forward gear, turns out one of my coils went bad (windings) and was causing a dead short in my wiring. Replaced a bunch of wiring, got another lower end today, this one seems to be fine as far as the gears, as I can turn the propeller shaft freely with no voltage, but with voltage to either of the wires I can not. Great, it's going in gear!

So I get my lower end home, change out the impeller and lower unit oil, get everything hooked up and ready to go, and I can't get it to pee. I pulled the lower back off, impeller looked good but I put my old one back on since it also looked like new and I knew it was working. I still can't get it to pee. I have the engine in a barrel of water. To make maters worse, when I started it to see if it would pee I took the chance to put the engine in gear and reach down and see if the shaft was spinning (of course the prop is off!) and It's still not spinning, so even with this thing seeming to go in gear, the shaft isn't turning for the propeller. I've always wanted to be a boat person, but at this rate I'm afraid I just might not make it

Does anyone have any ideas on either of my problems with it not peeing or with the propeller shaft not turning?

*Edit* After ranting I had another thought hit me. It seems like both of these problems would be caused by the shaft from the engine to the lower unit not spinning. Is there a certain way these things have to be stabbed? It seems that there is just a big hole for the shaft, and I assumed it funnels in. I simply made sure I got my copper tubing into the boots and the lower end went right in ready to bolt back up. Am I missing something with this shaft?

 

[F_R]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

No way could you get it to bolt up without the shaft being in place. The only way it could be in place and not turn would be if the splines were stripped out of the crankshaft. That would be so rare as to be like never has happened. At least not on that model. I suppose all things are possible.

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

No way could you get it to bolt up without the shaft being in place. The only way it could be in place and not turn would be if the splines were stripped out of the crankshaft. That would be so rare as to be like never has happened. At least not on that model. I suppose all things are possible.

Any other ideas as to what is going on then? This thing pee'd with the old lower end, and I'm using the same impeller and housing since they were known to be good. I poured water down on of the holes for the tubes when I had it apart to make sure I wasn't clogged up somewhere and water flows freely between my screen where it picks up the water and the water pump housing.

The shaft is really the only thing I could think of, I'm at a loss.

Anybody?

 

[lindy46]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Do you have the lower unit deep enough in the water? Make sure water level is above level of water pump.

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Do you have the lower unit deep enough in the water? Make sure water level is above level of water pump.

Yeah, the water level was over the water pump. Either the water pump isn't spinning or it is and just isn't getting water where it needs to, because after running it for a few mins without it spitting water the impeller still looked new when I tore it back apart.

 

[lindy46]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Is the drive pin/key for the impeller in place?

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Or is it a short shaft lower unit (drive shaft) bolted to a long shaft midsection?

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Is the drive pin/key for the impeller in place?

Yes, the woodruff key is in place and the impeller spins when I turn the shaft by hand.

Or is it a short shaft lower unit (drive shaft) bolted to a long shaft midsection?

Yes, it is. Or I'm assuming it is. My engine model number comes back as a short shaft as far as I can tell (RK 30-D) but both my lower units are the same, I believe long shaft type. There is an extension bolted to the engine that the lower unit bolts to. Please tell me the fact you knew that means I did something wrong and you know how to fix it!

*Edit, I just realized what you meant (needed another cup of coffee). My old and new shafts seem to be of equal length, and the old one worked fine. They are 22 1/2" from top of the shaft to center of the woodruff key.

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

I'm open to any and all suggestions guys. I'll be pulling the lower unit back off in a bit, so if anybody has anything, no matter how far fetched to check, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm worried about pulling the lower unit off this much as I've already had a couple of bolts that quit wanting to tighten, and I had to add longer bolts to get everything tight. Plus since the previous owners re wired a bunch of stuff, I don't have the factory quick connects coming off the lower so I have to cut/splice every time I want to pull it. It acts like my copper tubes aren't in the boots for the pump housing, but I stab them engine side and watch them go on the water pump side, so I don't see how they could be not right.

Any ideas, even just a far fetched theory, would be appreciated.

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

*Sigh* being an Okie, I hate to do this, but I must give credit where it's due. I'm an idiot, and tx1961whaler, you're a genius. I just pulled the lower unit off again and it's got a short shaft on it. Problem solved.

With that said, I'm gonna ask for some advice. Would you guys recommend replacing it back with my long shaft, or trimming my tubing to fit and removing my extension and going short shaft? I seem to remember having a needle bearing on my shaft going to the pinion gear. If I remember right and there is one there, I'm worried about a repeat of pulling the shaft only to have needles drop into the lower and having to tear everything apart to get them. I have tons of copper tubing so if I messed up and trimmed to short it wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[royal0014]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Stop! Hands up, slowly back away from the engine....

Sounds to me like you are causing your own problems. Walk away, think about the situation, come back to it later.

First, is your boat short or long transom? There is that answer.

Take it ONE step at a time. Concerned about needle bearings or any other part, replace it. Getting in a hurry or stressing just makes it worse.

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

Stop! Hands up, slowly back away from the engine....

Sounds to me like you are causing your own problems. Walk away, think about the situation, come back to it later.

First, is your boat short or long transom? There is that answer.

Take it ONE step at a time. Concerned about needle bearings or any other part, replace it. Getting in a hurry or stressing just makes it worse.

I caused my own problem as far as not realizing the new lower had a short shaft. I swapped shafts and put my long one back on and now everything seems to be working great. Gonna hit the lake with it in about an hour. Hopefully I finally have this thing running good enough to make it more than 100 yards from the dock without getting towed!

 

[Travis798]

Re: 68 Johnson 40hp going to make me pull my hair out!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the help here. I just got back from the lake and had a great time, heck the fish were even biting! I'm going to change the lower end oil one more time in the morning before I head out just to make sure I'm not taking on any water there, but everything went great and I had a blast. Thanks for the help guys. Maybe at some point I'll know enough to actually help others on here.