I broke the engine on my Merry Meeting Bay Scull Float

Hello Gordon,

Thanks for your input and observation about the drive shaft spline and thank you for your encouragement.

My wife thinks I may overcomplicate life by repairing old things. But this is how I got our 1998 Honda Civic to run 287,000 miles until last week. (As I said to my son driving home from the boat ramp, "You may find that things seem to go wrong or break all at once during life.") My brother, who is an auto mechanic, said that I didn't break anything in the car. (The car was getting spark and I sprayed starter fluid down the throttle body. I feared the camshaft chain finally broke or there was some other mechanical failure.) My brother said, "you just wore the engine out." I don't wonder if something similar maybe said for that trusty old Johnson.

I told my wife I want to save that old engine. I haven't told her yet that I am thinking about trying to save our old car.
 
Tom,

That is a good point. Comparing part numbers on different year engines would be very helpful. I bought some fuel lines to repair an old craftsman leaf blower and discovered that my craftsman hedge trimmer had the same part numbers for its fuel lines -which also need replacing.

I found Boats.Net and Marineengine.com to be excellent sources for parts for my motor and both sights provide drawings with part numbers.
 
Gordon,

I found parts available on Marineengine.com and boats.net. I have bought from one of the two in the past. Thanks for directing me to ebay.
 
"Out put shaft turns, without turning over the motor, means that you have a broken shaft, stripped gearing or a failed bearing that's letting the gears unmesh."

Scott,

Thanks for pointing me toward the possible problems. Sometimes I have to read through things more than once to recognize an answer to my question. Unfortunately the bearing housing assembly is unavailable at the two engine websites I found.

thanks again for offering to donate your engine.
 
Mr. Werner,
You really need to disassemble a couple of things to figure out what exactly is wrong with your motor. If I may make a suggestion or two:

1) Remove the swivel. I think that only requires the removal of four screws. The exhaust housing is one continuous tube in the area where it passes through the swivel. You said there were bubbles sputtering out of the swivel. That sort of implies that the exhaust housing is broken within the swivel. Could the exhaust housing have broken, letting the lower leg bend enough to break the drive shaft or pull it out from the crankshaft? Never heard of that, but it sounds plausible.

2) Remove the gearbox. Again; four screws. This will let you see the crankshaft and probably see what the problem is. Broken shaft? Stripped spline? Bad gearset? You should be able to figure it out just by taking the gearcase off, and at worst, opening it.

Let us know what you find; this one has me really curious.
Gordon
 
Hello Matt,

Actually that is what happened as it turned out. The propeller drive pin sheared and its end dug into the plastic propeller clutch hub. I could not see the broken end of the pin until I was inspecting the propeller clutch hub and saw a glint of metal in the plastic. I took a closer look at the drive pin and realized that it was too short. I had to replace the drive pin, propeller clutch hub, and propeller clutch ring as this too was torn when the drive pin sheared.

I plan on buying a new propeller, cotter pin, drive pin, propeller clutch hub, and propeller clutch ring and keep the set in the boat with a small hammer, center punch, and pliers. If this happens next time I might not be so lucky and be just fifty yards from the boat ramp when the propeller drive pin shears.

You were right first time.
 
Hello Gordon,

I removed the swivel as you suggested. One of the seems on the exhaust housing appeared uneven -perhaps cracked.
View attachment IMG_0005.jpg

The other seem appeared fine.

View attachment IMG_0006.jpg

During the process of removing and reattaching the swivel bracket (whereby I turned the engine upside down on its motor cover assembly) I discovered that the propeller shaft assembly would no longer freely spin. It was doing this before. So I reattached the propeller and started the engine. The propeller churned the water in the tub but I noticed it was not throwing the water outside of the tub as it had done before. Here is a picture of the tub with the engine at about half throttle. Sorry for the sideways shot.

View attachment IMG_0007.jpg

I removed the propeller and took a closer look inside the propeller clutch hub and saw a glint of metal inside the plastic hub. Also, I noticed the hub appeared cracked. I then took a closer look at the propeller drive pin and realized that it appeared too short. With a pair of pliers I pulled the broken end of the drive pin from the hub and I was able to extract a piece of the plastic hub from the hub itself. Further, I noticed the inside of the propeller clutch ring had a long tear. So I ordered a new drive pin, clutch hub, and clutch pin. I attached them to the propeller shaft assembly and propeller and started the motor. The propeller seems to push the water in the tub as it did before the accident.

View attachment IMG_0010 (1).jpg

I suspect the froth and bubbles I saw at the swivel brackets when the boat was in the water may have been when the prop was free spinning while I was leaning over the back of the transom (which is not very high) much like the bubbles and froth in the third picture above.

Thanks for your interest and input. I can only guess that the gears on the propeller shaft assembly, drive shaft pinion, and drive shaft must have realigned correctly with all the turning of the engine whilst I clumsily reattached the swivel brackets. Anyway, the trusty old Johnson looks good to go and I hope to test it soon.
 
Brings to mind a trick that may help someone get home someday. If you break a shear pin save the pieces and install out of order so one long piece will catch the prop then EASY DOES IT and you can make the access under power. Another one that works if you are fishing is to pack the shear pin hole with long shank fish hooks (don't ask how I know this one). Glad to hear this one got solved. BTW It is a better idea to duct tape some spares inside the motor hood.
 
Good idea Tom.

I remember using a sliver off the gunwale of my lapstrake wooden skiff as a shear pin to limp home with a '60s Evinrude 3 hp when I was a kid. Had to go VERY slowly.

Wooden boats come in handy some times........

Matt
 
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