Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Johnson &Evinrude jumping out of gear 51/2 to 40 hp older motors › Reply To: Johnson &Evinrude jumping out of gear 51/2 to 40 hp older motors
What keeps them together? Very little. They slide together and nothing really holds them together except the shift linkage and detent, whether it is at top or bottom. Later models had snap shift balls in the clutch dog. It is vital that they slide completely together in the first place. You are fighting a losing battle if the linkage is worn out. Along the same line, if the dog and gear are rounded off, it is going to jump out of gear, no matter what. You can’t even hold it in gear with your hand on the shifter lever. You say you built one up with worn out dog and gear and it held. Well thank some higher power, I suppose.
Some motors are better in this respect than others. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Mercury with the jumping problem. Or Scott-Atwater. But, yep tens of hundreds of OMC and Chrysler/West Bends.
Before you Merc guys get too cocky, remember the Mark 25 – type of motors that jump INTO gear and run over the pier.