Reply To: 1956 15 hp Evinrude driveshaft stuck in powerhead

[billw]

While this is not my usual MO, sometimes you just don’t want to go through all the above. Maybe time constraints, maybe the motor is too ugly to justify the effort, maybe you’re doing the work for someone else and it would be just too costly. So there is a back door to this problem. Put the key for the water pump back in the drive shaft, which is still sticking out of the exhaust housing. File a slot in the top of the water pump housing, just big enough to allow it to fit over the water pump key on the shaft. Then assemble the pump as you normally would, minus the drive shaft, but line up the impeller key slot with the slot you filed in the housing. Turn the motor over enough to clock the pump key on the drive shaft with the slot you filed in the pump housing. Then, install the lower unit right back over the drive shaft, just the same way it came off. If your impeller pin is round, this is easy. If you have a T-shaped impeller key, it helps to put the key in with a dab of epoxy or red Loctite, and allow it to cure, so the key won’t twist when you’re installing the lower unit.

The other positive thing about this method is that, if you do go through all the work of getting the shaft out of the crank, there is a strong chance that the crank end will be so rusty that there will not be enough spline material left in it to drive the drive shaft. While this method is not mechanically, morally correct, it can sometimes make the difference between a junk engine and one that can still push a boat. You have to make the call.

Long live American manufacturing!