newbie tip..

[Jerry In Maine]

here's a tip from a seagull newbie that might help other newbies...

while trying to free the top of the lower unit from the chromed shaft tube;

i removed the pinch bolt and expected the tube to slide out of its mounting hole - but it didn't. it was stuck . tapped with a leather mallet, no good, still stuck . tapped some more but a bit harder...little voice in head tells me that something is going to break if i "tap" any harder . cursed some and that didn't help either . sprayed with penetrant...nothing . it was like they were welded together.

then i came to my senses and made a small wooden wedge then inserted it between the gap that the pinch bolt squeezes together . gave it two or three light taps which pushed down the wedge which spread the sides, and the shaft tube fell out of its own accord.

[Charles uk]

Next time take the bolt out completely & screw it back from the threaded side, placea sturdy coin in the slot & screw the bolt into it, carefully.
Put a bit more pressure onto the bolt & the slot will start to open, Beware do it too hard & you will snap off one of the lugs!

[Collector Inspector]

YEP!

[Jerry In Maine]

yep indeed!
the revelation to me was that the tube wasn't stuck due to rust or corrosion - it was just "very well retained". that pinch assembly is tenacious - even w/o that bolt. you could hold jet airplane wings on with that method

[Jerry In Maine]

here's another tip to the newbies from my vast stash of misfortune...

when removing the bronze collar from the propeller shaft so you can remove the shaft from the lower unit housing:

you have to drive out a bronze pin to remove the collar, so you'll be tapping the pin with a punch. while doing place a solid support under the collar else you'll bend the shaft. that shaft is much softer than i thought it would be, and i introduced about .015" of wobble from the crown gear to the end of the shaft w/o realizing it because i didn't support the assembly properly. luckily i was able to straighten it to within .003" using a dial indicator on the lathe, and this will have to do.

i took a small rectangular iron block and drilled a hole toward one side. next time i'll use the block to support the collar and tap the holding pin through and into the drilled hole.

all this came about because the lower unit was froze up. turns out it was full of hardened grease and corrosion, and a total disassembly was necessary for a through cleaning.