removing electric shift lower unit write up.

[randy2112]

Hi, I couldn't find any info so after doing it myself I thought I would do a write up on how to remove the lower unit without removing the entire drive as the manual tells you to. It is very simple and only takes a few minutes

1. Disconnect the shift wires behind the engine on the right side.
2. With the drive tilted up pull the shift wires through the housing left of the ball gears. While you are there look for a spring clip On the shift wires. It is up against the gearhead. You have to remove this from the wire to pull it through the upper unit in step 8.
3. With the drive tilted down put a floor jack or piece of wood under the lower unit so it doesn't drop on the ground.
4 Remove the 5 bolts on the top of the drive. This relaeses the lower unit from the rest of the drive.
5. Lower the lower unit until it seperates from the upper unit.
6. Now tilt it toward yourself until you can get to the shift wires.
7. unhook the spring holding the shift wires from the upper unit.
8. carefully pull the shift wires through the upper unit. Now place the unit on a bench.
9. you can separate the lower from the swilvel housing by unbolting the six bolts under the fins. This will leave you with one bolt that is hard to get to.
10. Remove the exhaust fin and water pickup screen.
11. pull the piece that is attached to the water pickup tube. It is just held on by the rubber grommet around the water pickup tube.
12. Remove the water pickup tube by wiggleing it until it comes out. You may need to use pliers up where it enters the housing.
13. remove the last bolt in the area where the water pickup tube was.

That's it. The lower unit will come off of the swivel housing.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

There is no clip holding the shift wire into the intermediate housing. It is just a rubber plug with multiple sealing rings around it. They did not use the retainer clip/spring until the hydro-mechanical cable shift. You should just be able to wiggle the seal and wire out of the passage way.

To disengage the drive from the intermediate trunnions, the drive needs to be in the full up position.

 

[randy2112]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

There is no clip holding the shift wire into the intermediate housing. It is just a rubber plug with multiple sealing rings around it. They did not use the retainer clip/spring until the hydro-mechanical cable shift. You should just be able to wiggle the seal and wire out of the passage way.

To disengage the drive from the intermediate trunnions, the drive needs to be in the full up position.

The whole point was not removing the entire drive. just the lower unit...
There is a clip that goes around the shift wire after the intermediate housing but before the gearhead. The shift wire wont come through the gearhead with it in place. Assumeing someone didn't leave it off...
There is a spring that holds the shift wire up out of the way and attachs to the front of the gearhead behind the swivel housing.
You cant miss it.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

Didn't know about the spring but otherwise, suit yourself if you want to work upside down.

 

[southkogs]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

I have the spring on mine (both of 'em) but not the clip at the shift wire. Don't know that I've ever seen that. Otherwise, I'm kinda' an advocate for taking the whole bloomin' thing off.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

..... Don't know that I've ever seen that.......

'78 hydro-mechanicals and later, the ones with the heavy double pathway shift cables used a forked clip and bolt, kind of like a distributor hold down clamp, to hold the cable in.

On mine, a hydro-mechanical mated to a '75 electric shift intermediate housing, my IH did not have the bolt boss adjacent to the cable passageway thru the IH. As such, I use 3M 5200 around the molded seal(on the shift cable), as it enters the passageway. So far, for 34 years, it has held and not backed out.

 

[randy2112]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

If you know the upper is good and don't have any problems with it why would you pull the entire drive to replace a lower unit?

I didn't have to work upside down...

The clip I am talking about is like a hose clamp with two ears that you squeze together to open it up and slide it off the wire. There is one behind the gearhead and one below the swivel housing that prevents the shift wire from being pulled through. Presumably to keep the wire from getting stretched or kinked. Unless someone added these to the drive I don't know why they aren't on other units...

Should of had someone take pics... I am blind so I don't thingk about doing that.

Just trying to help others with this as I got lots of conflicting info and some of it was just wrong all together...

 

[southkogs]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

Should of had someone take pics... I am blind so I don't thingk about doing that...

An ironic point I would not have thought of ... kinda' funny how presumptive we are about things based on our own experience. Thanks for that little lesson for me.

I'm going to guess the clip you mention was an add on. My manual doesn't mention it either. The wires on mine have "rings" built into the outer coating to act as a stop for the wire. No worries either way, you go with what works, y'know?

I actually pull my entire drive nearly any time I work on it, and sometimes just when I store it for the winter. I can have the entire drive off the boat by myself in about 15 minutes, and torn down to upper and lower in another 5 or 10 minutes. Heck, I typically change the gear oil when I've got it all taken apart because it's so much easier to unscrew the fill and hold the gear case over a pan.

The reason Boom said work on the impeller upside down is that it's on the bottom of the upper gear case. The way your description works, the impeller would be hanging on the bottom of the housing and your access would come from underneath the boat as opposed to being on top of the lower.

We're pretty much splittin' hairs on technique though. No offense intended.

 

[randy2112]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

Thanks. No offense taken. I just had to swap the lower unit. If I had to work on the upper unit I would pull the whole thing too. This is my first outdrive and the process for removing the whole thing sounded a little complicated with marking ball gears and keeping seals and caps in the right sides... I was also afraid of it leaking if I messed with it... Now it doesn't seem so bad if I have to do it in the future.

I would like to thank the people on this site you all have been very helpfull.

 

[southkogs]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

...the process for removing the whole thing sounded a little complicated with marking ball gears and keeping seals and caps in the right sides...

Ahhh! On that - keeping the trunion caps on the right side is easy enough. As far as marking the ball gears; the some manuals don't even mention that. I've NEVER done it, and have been told several times it's not a problem to NOT mark them.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

......and have been told several times it's not a problem to NOT mark them......

....as I was recently told by a local, long time OMC guru. His response was PFFFFFT!

What you do have to pay attention to is that your steering wheel is straight ahead and when you remove the drive, then again when you re-hang the it, you do so with the drive exactly 90? to the transom. Otherwise you will do it all over again as your left to right lock will be out of whack.

 

[southkogs]

Re: removing electric shift lower unit write up.

^^^^ if you have tru-course steering. The one advantage (and probably the only one) to that goofy through-the-transom steering arm rig I have is that don't have to pay attention to that at all.