Motor Mechanic Needed

[huntin fool]

Got my friends boat at my house, thought our boat mechanic would be able to help out.. It's a 25 evinrude 3 cylinder.. He dropped the lower unit out to change impeller, and took the shaft down out of the power head which according to multiple guys was te wrong way for him to do it.. Anyone ever work on these motors?

[bgizzle]

That's how I did mine just when you put it back in you gotta get one person to hold it in place and you stab it and line up splines. It's gotta be perfect or it won't go back together. Where's the boat located?

[bgizzle]

How else would you do it? The shaft comes out when you drop it right? It's definately easier to split it while its off the motor to me. But to each his own. Holla if you need help I did a 90 Yamaha and 25 Johnson and it was basically the same way and it was that way more or less both times

[Feesherman]

Shaft always comes out of the power head. No big deal. If it won't go back in have someone slowly spin the flywheel while the other is pushing on the lower unit.

[huntin fool]

Gotcha. Then he wa having problems hooking the gear linkage back up?

[Gerald]

Reconnecting the gear linkage can be a little tricky if you don't know exactly how it was positioned before it was taken apart.

Try this method.

Reconnect the linkage, then put engine shift lever in netural. Try turning the propeller using your hand. If it turns....great, you have it connected fairly close to correct.

If the propeller does not turn, try moving the shift lever a little like you are putting it in gear to go foward. Keep moving the shift lever until the propeller shaft gets to the netural position. You may have to move the shift lever to the reverse directions to find where the netural position is. Remember at what angle the shift lever is at to find the netural. Also note what direction [up or down] the shift linkage moved.

Knowing how far the shift lever had to be moved [and what direction] will give you an idea of how much you need to adjust the linkage connection.

Now....make an adjustment to the linkage and repeat the proccedure again.

Doing this several times will get the shift linkage and the shift lever lined up so the propeller will turn freely while the shift lever is in netural position.

After you get the shift linkage adjusted fairly close so that the propeller turns in the netural, try moving the shift lever just a little towards the forward and try turning the propeller to see if it feels like the gear is engaging properly. Try this again moving the lever toward the reverse.

If you feel like the linkage is connected fairly close to the proper position, it is time to test the shift lever with the engine running using "ear muffs" for water. But be careful to not "GRIND" the gears while testing. Chances are you will have to make one or two more adjustment after running the engine.

The engine gears are fairly expensive....so spend the time to get it adjusted correctly.