Reply To: 1957 Evinrude Big Twin 35 Skeg interferes with gears.

[boscovius]

Bobw,

As I have been able to assemble the unit without the pinion and have the prop shaft turn freely, I think that rules out the possibility of interference between the front bearing race and it’s seat.   Since the trouble only appears when the pinion is installed, I have to go with what fleetwin said about it having to do with the pinion and the forward/reverse gear mesh.  You can see from one of the pictures that the flat edge of that small envelope shows pinion bearing race is at level or just below the level of the upper lower unit housing.  Everything turns nicely when it isn’t fully tightened, so I keep thinking:

1.  The pinion is riding too proud and thus grinding too hard against the forward and reverse gears when fully tightened.

2. The gears and pinion are not from a matched set (they are not) and the issue resides there.

3. Something so woefully obvious that I’ll smack myself in the face when I finally see it.

Any comments on the pinion bearing race photo?