Re: Johnson CD-15 Seized Swivel Assembly

[johnyrude200]

I bought an old 10hp evinrude, ’59 model last year that was owned by a finish woodworker. Well, he stored the motor in his barn where he milled and cut wood everyday, for about 5 years, exposing it to all sorts of fine wood particles. We all know how good saw dust is at absorbing oil, or any mosture for that matter. That motor was so dry, it was almost seized at the powerhead (didn’t dare try to turn it over without adding oil once I got it home). The swivel bracket was stuck like cement. Oil and it had phenomenal compression, and I actually saw the customer using it on Lake Winni later that year (22 y.o. – WAY too small for a lake that size!).

I used a propane torch (only throws about 300-400° of heat, well below any hot temperatures but enough to make things expand) and a generous amount of PB Blaster. The trick is to have the motor clamped down (via the stern bracket/bunny ears) firmly, so that your holding fixture can’t move an inch. I used a block of wood and 5lb mini sledge to hit the motor near the aft of the lower cowel. Recall these motors look very boxy. The further away from the fulcrum/point of axis (i.e. swivel bracket), the more force applied. This is dry lock, not a mechanical lock, so even after a couple of strikes, it budged about a 1/4 inch.

Kept working my way back and forth on each side, add blaster, add heat. Until eventually the old grease, which was basically like plastic, started getting loose again. This took the better half of an hour but by the time I was done I actually had to tighten down the swivel friction screw (in the front of the stern bracket) to give it a little bit of friction. I could literally use my pinky to rotate the motor.

I run into these issues a lot refurbishing these 40 year old motors. Most of the time the swivel brackets can be freed up with some elbow grease (pun intended), but if the stern clamps are frozen badly, just plan on drilling them out, retapping, and starting fresh. If the tilt screw is frozen, you may be out of luck too. A lot of heat and grease and you might get lucky.

To other’s point – don’t hold the heat over/near any plastic or rubber grommets for obvious reasons.