Evinrude Model R locking transom clamp

[Markle Stanberry]

I feel like it’s blasphemy, the thought I had of drilling it out. I suppose I could try to revive the lock picking skills of my youth but if the tumblers are as frozen as the rest of this little motor was there might not be any “feel good about it” option.

Were the keys for these unique to each motor or did they use something similar to a modern riding mower’s “one fits all” keys?

1967 Johnson 9.5 "Grandpa"
1962 Sea King 3hp
1957 "Monkey Ward's" Sea King 5hp
1956 Gale Buccaneer 12hp
1955 Evinrude Big Twin Electric
1955 Goodyear Sea Bee 5hp
1953 Evinrude Big Twin
1947 Martin 40
1927 Evinrude Model R

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

Have you called a locksmith?

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[PM T2]

The inner part of the lock is probably die-cast zinc. The zinc alloys of that era were very unstable due to tramp elements (aka contaminants) being allowed to build up in the molten zinc furnaces.  in most cases, the culprit is lead, as the standard created in the early 1930’s states that lead can only compose less than 0.003% of the alloy. In the late 1920’s, it is known that the alloys often contained lead contents of more than 1/2 of a percent, which leads to the breakdown most often seen in Tillotson carburetors in the 1927-29 era. The cracking you see is due to a phenomenon known as “intergranular corrosion” that causes the original casting to start to wander from its original form by growing or “creeping”. There isn’t likely a way to get that cylinder out without destroying it, but keep in mind its already basically destroyed, it just can’t show you how bad it really is. Tom Manley wrote an article in the Antique Outboarder that was printed in the January 1992 issue of how he dealt with a seized up lock cylinder and how he fixed it using modern parts to make the lock functional again. The number on the lock might correspond to a code that allows a locksmith to make a new key, but the innards are going to be jammed up so I doubt even the proper key would get the lock to work again.

Hope this helps.
Best,
PM T2

He's livin' in his own private Idaho..... I hope to go out quietly in my sleep, like my grand-dad did..... and not screaming, like the passengers in his car...

[Tom]

They can be rebuilt, I’ve done a few of them on N’s, R’s and T’s. Carefully drill out the cylinder, but don’t nick the nickel plated retaining ring. Break up what’s left and extract it. Plan on this taking a LOT of time. Then remove the ring which is just staked in place. There is a spring loaded rod at the back of the hole, which moves up and down as the cylinder was rotated with a key. You’ll need to remove the transom screw, and get the rod to drop out of the hole in the bottom of the transom clamp. Once that is all freed up, you’ll need to find a replacement cylinder and key. I’ve used cylinders from office furniture. You will need to shape the back of the cylinder with an offset circle to move the rod up and down. When all is fitted, replace the retaining ring.  See the crude diagram and an example of what the cylinder looks like.

[Author]

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