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Jason Ham
 
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Default Johnson Outboard Forward Shift

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?

I am a young boat owner. I have an 70's Caravelle with a Johnson 135
Outboard.
Last summer I was on the water and it slipped from forward to neutral
unexpectedly. I shifted it back into forward and after a minute it
slipped again. After two or three times it finally would not engage
into forward fully. I could only go about 5 mph. Reverse was fine and
the motor was running well.

I drained the lower unit oil and found fine metal shavings. I took off
the lower unit. When I shifted it into forward the top drive shaft
would spin, but the lower shaft would not. There was the slipping that
was happening on the water. When I shifted it into reverse the top and
bottom shaft would spin. They were engaging.

I recently broke down the lower unit. The forward gear, the clutch dog,
and the reverse gear were all fine. There were no broken pieces.

Is it the hydromechanical shifter inside the lower unit?

I've heard of some things to check but I don't think they are the
cause:
1) Check the shifter cables and the shifter box. Something may have
come loose.
2) Check the prop. It might be slipping.

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?
Thanks, Jason

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Dave
 
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Default Johnson Outboard Forward Shift

You might try giving Mike Weller a call at Go2marine. He is their on staff
mechanic and may be able to help you diagnose the problem as well as find
any parts you might need. Their URL is www.go2marine.com and you can call
them at 1-800-998-9508.

Dave

"Jason Ham" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?

I am a young boat owner. I have an 70's Caravelle with a Johnson 135
Outboard.
Last summer I was on the water and it slipped from forward to neutral
unexpectedly. I shifted it back into forward and after a minute it
slipped again. After two or three times it finally would not engage
into forward fully. I could only go about 5 mph. Reverse was fine and
the motor was running well.

I drained the lower unit oil and found fine metal shavings. I took off
the lower unit. When I shifted it into forward the top drive shaft
would spin, but the lower shaft would not. There was the slipping that
was happening on the water. When I shifted it into reverse the top and
bottom shaft would spin. They were engaging.

I recently broke down the lower unit. The forward gear, the clutch dog,
and the reverse gear were all fine. There were no broken pieces.

Is it the hydromechanical shifter inside the lower unit?

I've heard of some things to check but I don't think they are the
cause:
1) Check the shifter cables and the shifter box. Something may have
come loose.
2) Check the prop. It might be slipping.

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?
Thanks, Jason



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trainfan1
 
Posts: n/a
Default Johnson Outboard Forward Shift

Dave wrote:

You might try giving Mike Weller a call at Go2marine. He is their on staff
mechanic and may be able to help you diagnose the problem as well as find
any parts you might need. Their URL is www.go2marine.com and you can call
them at 1-800-998-9508.

Dave

"Jason Ham" wrote in message
oups.com...

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?

I am a young boat owner. I have an 70's Caravelle with a Johnson 135
Outboard.
Last summer I was on the water and it slipped from forward to neutral
unexpectedly. I shifted it back into forward and after a minute it
slipped again. After two or three times it finally would not engage
into forward fully. I could only go about 5 mph. Reverse was fine and
the motor was running well.

I drained the lower unit oil and found fine metal shavings. I took off
the lower unit. When I shifted it into forward the top drive shaft
would spin, but the lower shaft would not. There was the slipping that
was happening on the water. When I shifted it into reverse the top and
bottom shaft would spin. They were engaging.

I recently broke down the lower unit. The forward gear, the clutch dog,
and the reverse gear were all fine. There were no broken pieces.

Is it the hydromechanical shifter inside the lower unit?

I've heard of some things to check but I don't think they are the
cause:
1) Check the shifter cables and the shifter box. Something may have
come loose.
2) Check the prop. It might be slipping.

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?
Thanks, Jason





A 135 would make it a 1973 or newer, which will have full mechanical
follow-through for the shifting mechanism in addition to the hydraulic
circuit. You don't need to go into the hydraulics yet... it is a shift
assist only and has no component that will cause a "slipping".

Is the clutch dog sliding fully into the forward position on the prop
shaft? Is ther an equal amount of travel from the neutral detent to
both FWD & REV in the vertical shift rod? Have you made the same
observations with the prop on the shaft & off?

Can you post pics of the gears & bith sides of the clutch on a host site?

Rob
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LD
 
Posts: n/a
Default Johnson Outboard Forward Shift

I lost a few transmissions in a motorcycle some years ago due to the dog
(gear) with pegs being worn which would not "lock" into the other gear with
holes, and under pressure (wide open throttle) the dog was eventually forced
out. In my case it was a motorcycle, the shift fork (yoke) had been heated
and bent and when I tried for another gear, many gears meshed
simultaneously, that weren't supposed to! After loosing and rebuilding
three transmissions I finally found the cause.
I'm not familiar with your gearbox but probably you either have square cut
dove tails or holes and pegs. Either way, they should be undercut so when
properly engaged they cannot separate under load. If you found actual metal
shavings then you need to find out where they came from. Two years ago I
lost a lower unit on my 200 Merc due to a similar problem (jumping out of
gear). I almost got back to the dock under power but it went crunch to the
tune of $1000.
LD


"trainfan1" wrote in message
...
Dave wrote:

You might try giving Mike Weller a call at Go2marine. He is their on

staff
mechanic and may be able to help you diagnose the problem as well as

find
any parts you might need. Their URL is www.go2marine.com and you can

call
them at 1-800-998-9508.

Dave

"Jason Ham" wrote in message
oups.com...

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?

I am a young boat owner. I have an 70's Caravelle with a Johnson 135
Outboard.
Last summer I was on the water and it slipped from forward to neutral
unexpectedly. I shifted it back into forward and after a minute it
slipped again. After two or three times it finally would not engage
into forward fully. I could only go about 5 mph. Reverse was fine and
the motor was running well.

I drained the lower unit oil and found fine metal shavings. I took off
the lower unit. When I shifted it into forward the top drive shaft
would spin, but the lower shaft would not. There was the slipping that
was happening on the water. When I shifted it into reverse the top and
bottom shaft would spin. They were engaging.

I recently broke down the lower unit. The forward gear, the clutch dog,
and the reverse gear were all fine. There were no broken pieces.

Is it the hydromechanical shifter inside the lower unit?

I've heard of some things to check but I don't think they are the
cause:
1) Check the shifter cables and the shifter box. Something may have
come loose.
2) Check the prop. It might be slipping.

Can anyone tell me why it's not engaging into forward?
Thanks, Jason





A 135 would make it a 1973 or newer, which will have full mechanical
follow-through for the shifting mechanism in addition to the hydraulic
circuit. You don't need to go into the hydraulics yet... it is a shift
assist only and has no component that will cause a "slipping".

Is the clutch dog sliding fully into the forward position on the prop
shaft? Is ther an equal amount of travel from the neutral detent to
both FWD & REV in the vertical shift rod? Have you made the same
observations with the prop on the shaft & off?

Can you post pics of the gears & bith sides of the clutch on a host site?

Rob



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Jason Ham
 
Posts: n/a
Default Johnson Outboard Forward Shift

I think I found the oil leak problem. When putting the lower drive
shaft back in, I noticed that there was a piece of the bearing housing
missing. It's not a good place since it's around the O-ring. Part of
the ridge is missing from where the o-ring sits. It looked as if it had
been leaking because my o-ring was deteriorating at that spot.

Here is my best guess on what happened. I was cruising across the lake
with no oil in the LU. When it finally kicked out of forward into
neutral, I think at that point the lower unit was almost locked up and
my shifter shaft came loose from the shifter plunger on the LU because
I tried to force it into forward. My shift shaft is not a screw down,
it's just a notch like deal. Since down on the plunger is reverse, the
shift shaft would push the plunger down. Also, it would go back to
neutral because that shift just slides easily back. It would not fully
shift into forward because 1) It had no oil and therefore was trying to
lockup, this is not an easy gear to get in anyway 2) The shifter shaft
has come loose and could not pull the plunger up into forward.

I can get the unit to shift from R to N to F and the gears are all
lined up and catching. I assume the shifting is fine. l I'm going to
find a new bearing housing and new seals for everything, then put
everything back together and give it a shot.

I'm thinking of running it by a shop to get them to do a pressure test.
How much $ does that usually run?

Thanks, Jason

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