Reply To: 1979 Johnson 70 Bushings

[Don]

OK, the tilt tube is out, correct? Is this a manual or power tilt model? You must be very careful because there is nothing supporting the engine to the boat except for the hydraulic cylinder….I have never attempted this job without pulling the engine off the boat, which isn’t a real big deal…But, removing the stern brackets (one of them anyways) involves removing those bolts down there which may be seized, less likely in fresh water though. You sure don’t want to break off one of those SS bolts…
So, the question is how to go about replacing those bushings without removing the engine from the boat…Step one will be to secure the engine to something overhead using that hanging bracket on top of the powerhead….Now, if the engine has power tilt/trim, I would just hit the up button, the hydraulic tilt cylinder will probably just push the swivel bracket up and out of the stern brackets, allowing easy access to the bushings. It is probably best to have an assistant help out guiding the pieces back together while hitting the down switch after bushing replacement. Please be very careful, probably real easy to get fingers jammed/pinched….
Now, if the engine has manual tilt, this will be more challenging. The manual “assist cylinder” is gas filled so it will want to extend if it is still working properly. So, with the lever in the “tilt position”, you could use a hoist to lift the steering swivel bracket up and out of the transom brackets to change the bushings. The challenge is going to be getting the swivel bracket back down into the transom brackets after bushing replacement. Again, that tilt assist cylinder is gas charged, so it can be tough to get it to compress again…But, hopefully just the weight of the engine will be enough to counteract the cylinder allowing you to get things lined up again without too much effort. Again, please be very careful, it will be real easy to pinch/jam fingers in this operation.