I don't know if this will work for you or not, but while the outboard
was attached to the boat I used a floor jack to support the lower unit
(once I got the drive shaft in the right vicinity) to free up my hands
and I put a little spot of white grease on each tube to keep it from
sliding around while I slowly (...slowly...) jacked the lower unit up
while at the same time gently turning the prop to line up the splines
and (my OB has an electronic shift so there are wires the go down into
the lower unit) fish wires back up into the power head and line up the
water tubes. The manual says it's a 2 or 3 man job but I was able to
juggle it all in not once but twice (2nd time was easier) after I
remembered that I forgot to torque the water pump bolts. \

Jeff



wingspan wrote:
I finally got the stuck bolt out of my 1976 Johnson 35's water pump
housing, replaced the impeller and started trying to put the lower unit
back in its place. The new snag is the copper water tube that has to go
into the grommet on top of the water pump housing. The copper tube
won't stay in one place long enough for me to persuade the drive shaft
into the power head, the shift linkage into the connector and the pipe
into the grommet. Is there a secret to getting everything into place in
one operation? I can't see up into the housing far enough to align the
tube visually, and I haven't figured out a way to hold the tube in a
fixed location long enough to mate the pieces.

Thanks in advance...