Small Mercury Outboard Drive Shaft Removel Question

[tpenfield]

I am trying to take the drive shaft out of the lower unit on my 1969 Mercury 7.5 HP outboard (serial # below in my sig). I have got the bearing carrier out of the lower unit and removed the bolt off the pinion gear at the end of the shaft . . . but the shaft does not want to come out. :noidea:

I would think the drive shaft would want to come out once I removed the bolt at the end of the shaft that holds the gear. I cannot quite tell what else is holding it in . . . perhaps the main bearing? Part diagrams that I have searched don't help.

Anybody have any info . . . or been there?

TIA

 

[racerone]

Common mystery to some.----Heat the area around that bearing below the waterpump.--Boiling hot water might be all you need here.---When it is hot you grab the driveshaft and give the case a good bump with a 2 X 4

 

[tpenfield]

Yea, thanks, I got it. didn't have to heat the housing though.

Salt water has pitted the oil seal surface, so I just ordered another one from a 1980 7.5 (a La eBay). Mercury switched to stainless steel in the late 1970's IIRC.

 

[racerone]

Pay attention to the shimming of the gears when you switch out a driveshaft.