Reply To: Johnson FD-12 Gearcase rebuild

[billw]

DrummermanBob wrote:

I am having difficulty with Johnson 1958 18 hp gear case re-assembly.  I can’t seem to get the two halves of the lower unit to seat properly. It looks as if the front of the gear assembly sits higher than the rear. I narrowed this down to perhaps the pinion gear sitting too high. When I put a narrower thrust washer on the pinion gear the assembly goes together as it should. Would it be okay to use a narrower thrust washer?

I also noticed that the pin that engages the forward gear bearing is missing (sheared off ??). Any thoughts on how to keep that bearing from rotating without that pin? Loctite? I really don’t want to drill out that pin. It seems like a bad idea to have that spin in the aluminum housing. Also, should the holes in the forward gear bearing face up and aligned with lube keyway? The pin likely aligned this but no pin.

Thanks for your insights.

Regarding the pin that holds the forward gear bushing from spinning, in my experience, they get driven into the gear case too far, when somebody tightens down the six skeg screws without lining up the pin with the bushing. One time, I very carefully drilled diagonally down (technically up) from the OUTSIDE, towards the pin and then used a punch to knock the pin back out, where it could be functional again. Then I used some Marine Tex to seal off the hole that I drilled. Not very elegant but it worked.

Long live American manufacturing!