Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 18HP saga continues. Can’t get past 14mph and 3,900 RPM. › Re: 18HP saga continues. Can’t get past 14mph and 3,900 RPM.
Mike,
I forgot to address what you said about the gears. Even though I’m "shooting down" some of your comments and suggestions. That does not mean I do no appreciate them. I need someone else to be thinking of things I haven’t thought of and that’s exactly what you are doing. Back to the gears, I’ve had the gear set out a couple times. Once when I replaced the seals, and again later when I replaced the shift dog. The shaft, gears and bearings all looked good. I was able to turn the driveshaft by hand wiht it in forward or reverse until I installed the impeller, then it was too hard to turn by hand. I believe the factory recommended mixture is 40:1. The older 18hp motors with the clamshell cowls require 25:1 because they run clamshell bearings instead of needle bearings.