1978 35HP Johnson outboard shifting problem?

Question

I have been having problems getting my 35 into forward gear. I know very little about boat motors so please excuse my ignorance:). I have noticed that it wont go into gear depending on the position of the flywheel, and possibly also the prop when motor is off. It will click into gear just fine in certain positions of these two components. I was also wondering if there is supposed to be any play in the prop when IT IS in forward or reverse. I have probably a quarter of a revolution of play in the prop when it does in fact engage. Is this a sync problem, or could something be damaged in the lower unit, or something else? Any help on this would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

There is no problem,,, unless the oil looks milky or metallic. The shift dog has to be aligned with the gears before it will lock in. It should shift fine with the engine running. The quarter revolution of play you mention is normal.

Answer 2

I s it electric shift if so are you sure your running the right lower end lube?

Answer 3

There's no clutch in your outboard.  shifting with the motor off, you might have to rotate the flywheel a tad to mesh the gears.

Does it shift normally with the engine running?  Any other symptoms?

The flywheel and prop are mechanically linked when the motor's in gear -- the flywheel will turn approx. 2 1/2 times for every revolution of the prop -- but there should be no play at all.  If there is, I can't imagine how the motor could push the boat.

Does that motor have thru-prop exhaust?  If not, pull the prop off and check the shear pin -- if it's broke in two and the pieces are wedged in there just right, it might cause the symptoms you described.

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When the clutch dog wears out, it starts out by feeling like you hit a stump every now & then, just at full throttle, then deteriorates.  If you never experienced that, good chance you just need to inspect the cable ends -- cable might've stretched, or some piece or other might be broken, with luck, an adjustment will fix ya up.

Drain the gear oil, filter the first few ounces through your fingers - a small amount of metal shavings on the drain plug magnet is normal, but if your gearbox is making metal then it for sure needs to be torn down for inspection.

For sure, you don't want to attempt that without a good service manual, preferably the factory manual for your specific motor.  Available at http://www.iboats.com or http://www.marineengine.com