TOPIC: Evinrude 1965 60hp

Does anyone know if there are any compatible lower units that would bolt up? The model is a 60553 and is a 1965.

Your Johnrude could have come with either the heavy-duty or standard gearcase. The standard gearcase is rather slim and streamlined, and has a one-piece lower gear housing The heavy-duty gearcase is more bulky and has a horizontal split on the lower housing.

Either gearcase will bolt up. IIRC, '68 was the last year these styles of gearcase were used. Anything manual-shift V4 from that year back to the late-50's models is pretty much the same design and would bolt right up to your 65hp.

Don't confuse either of the above lower units with the electric shift L/U which was available on various HP motors. Ain't gonna work for your application. These will have an electrical shift cable coming out of the gearcase, very easy to spot the difference between that and the manual shift model's shift shaft sticking up.

If you can post a pic of your 65hp's lower unit we can tell you right away what type you have.

HTH..........ed

Thanks Ed. The 60 horse has the standard lower unit, manual shift. So if I'm understanding, 60 horse lowers from 1968 to around 1958 should bolt up as long as they are the same basic engine.

Since some one will ask, the small mercury in the background is a Mark 10 A 1959. Runs flawless, little rough on the paint job.

is it possible to replace an electric shift with manual shift assembly??

not a clue, i'm still figuring this stuff out!

Brent wrote: is it possible to replace an electric shift with manual shift assembly??

Anything's possible, but you'd have to have the entire manual shift center section (exhaust tower), besides the lower unit. And then if I recall correctly, the Electric Shift powerheads may not have the necessary mounting points built-in for the manual shift's interlock shafts, etc.

You might be able to haywire something but it may be a bit of work. The powerhead bolt patterns would be the same, so you certainly could throw an electric shift powerhead on a manual shift body.

In typing this, I do recall a friend of Doc Frankenmerc who had an Anthony tunnel hull with an OMC 100hp on it. He had put the 100hp powerhead on a manual shift body. But I don't recall if he had to do anything special to make it work right.

There should be any number of dead/froze-up old V4's to act as a donor for such a project. Later models are preferable because they had a spring-loaded shift clutch which helps keep the L/U in gear at high power. The very old models all had a tendency to wear clutch dogs and kick out of gear. Adjustment is very critical on those, and also keeping the shift linkage in good repair. Fixed a lot of sloppy shift linkages, and replaced a lot of clutch dogs & gears in my day!

1965-up "standard duty" lower units had the upgraded shift clutch along with (2) stainless ball detents and a spring which fit into a hole drilled perpendicular to the length of the driveshaft, and centered at the clutch dog's Neutral position.

HTH...........ed

My electric shift leg is on a 1962/63 OMC in-board...with a V-4 80 hp engine. A rare bird indeed. I was hoping of course that merely changing the lower unit would in some way allow me to convert the shift. I may be jumping the gun anyway cause I haven't even tried the electric shift. It may still work as the boat may nor have a lot of hours on it. Our boating season isn't that long up here.

Brent wrote: My electric shift leg is on a 1962/63 OMC in-board...with a V-4 80 hp engine. A rare bird indeed. I was hoping of course that merely changing the lower unit would in some way allow me to convert the shift. I may be jumping the gun anyway cause I haven't even tried the electric shift. It may still work as the boat may nor have a lot of hours on it. Our boating season isn't that long up here.

I don't think you'll have any alternatives but to use the Selectric. Doubt there would be any replacements for that in an I/O that likely only ever came with electric shift.

Nothing really wrong with the Selectric if it's working OK. Biggest issue inside is the Fwd or Reverse springs break. Then you have no gear in that direction, and you'd need to dismantle the lower unit and replace the darned spring.

2nd problem is if the electrical cable is cracked/shorted. If your cable to the L/U is in good shape, then you should be OK. Note that if you change the impeller, the cable has to go out with the L/U. So you'd disconnect at the inside connections and feed it out as you pull the L/U. I'd expect there's a hole somewhere on the way out, that the cable snaps into. You'd want to lube the cable up real good so it'll slide out easily.

Worst issue I've seen with Selectric outboards in Salt Country is the cable salts up in the entrance plate hole, then the cable won't go out. Most of the time you have to cut the cable to get the lower unit out, and then of course it's shot. The cure for that is to slather up the cable and the entrance plate hole with Permatex No. 3 gasket dressing, which acts as a salt barrier.

Last issue is with the shift control switches in the remote control box. An occasional failure. But not as common as issues with the lower unit or cable. Long as you're getting power back to the shift cable when it's supposed to, you're OK.

You can test this with a meter. Blue wire (only) energized with +12V to ground=Reverse; Green wire (only) energized with +12V to ground=Forward. No voltage to either wire=Neutral.

A good way to test the Fwd and Reverse gear springs in the L/U is to apply +12V to both blue and green wire; if the springs are both good and nothing inside is slipping, you won't be able to move the prop. This is because both springs are magnetized so they grip their respective clutch hub; therefore the prop shaft can't move in either direction.

The biggest downside to this setup is that if you lose electrical power, there's no drive at all. And of course if the Fwd spring breaks while underway, you're gonna spend a long time backing up!

Later model Hydromatic electric shift gearboxes sorta fixed that problem, they were always in gear and electrical solenoids were engaged to route oil, via an oil pump, to move the shift clutch to Neutral and Reverse. Even these had issues, if the electrical was fouled you'd only have Forward. At least you'd get back to the ramp faster! And if the oil got contaminated (water leaks), the filter screen would plug and then oil wouldn't pump the shift clutch. Stuck in Fwd again. IIRC the last of the electric shift outboards was '72 or so. Not sure but I think OMC I/O's may have used electric shift a bit longer than that. Mechanical shift (at least modern ones) is much better!

All that being said, a Selectric is the smoothest-shifting old L/U you'll ever srun! No clutch dogs to go "CLUNK".

So there ya have it, everything you didn't know you needed to know about Selectrics (or maybe didn't even want to know)!

HTH.............ed

The small "DU" outdrive on your 2 stroke I/O was also used on early 100 & 120 HP GM based inline 4's and the 90 HP inline Ford block. There is no mechanical shift alternative.
The main core of full size electric shifts ran from 1964 thru 1977. All were selectric, no hydroelectrics were ever I/Os.

mtnshark wrote: Thanks Ed. The 60 horse has the standard lower unit, manual shift. So if I'm understanding, 60 horse lowers from 1968 to around 1958 should bolt up as long as they are the same basic engine.

More than just 60hp.. There were mechanical shift 75's. 80's and 85's as well.

MarineEngine.com is your friend (lots of clicking necessary).

Looking at 1968:

Evinrude: 65: 65832, 65833; 85: 85832, 85833
Johnson: 65: VX, VXL; 85: V4S, V4SL

Johnson has a base model (VX or V4S, which doesn't change), adds "L" to the model for long shaft, digits after for the year (starting at 10)

Evinrude varies the last digit for short/long shaft, and puts the HP in the first two digits, then a digit for the year? The Evinrude model names for mechanical shift may be "Speedifour" and "Sportfour"
(while the deluxe "Starflite" are likely all "selectric")

Back again! Does anyone have any an idea for a direct replacement for lower pinion bearing Bearing 378264. I cant seem to find a bearing or a compatible replacement.

mtnshark wrote: Back again! Does anyone have any an idea for a direct replacement for lower pinion bearing Bearing 378264. I cant seem to find a bearing or a compatible replacement.

Here's one, it ain't cheap though!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0878TPWT9?tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

You'll note the center sleeve which looks a bit rusted, that is just to hold the roller bearings in place until installation. You'll need to take all the bearings out of that shell and clean everything up. Probably covered with Cosmoline preservative.

BTW I found more info on that bearing, it's a Torrington AG28584 which might lead you to more parts.

www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/showthread.php?421370-Bearing

What's wrong with your bearing, missing needles? Rough race or needles? If the bearing and needles are smooth, with no nasty-looking worn areas, and not blue from overheating, you should be able to clean everything up and re-use.

Crowley Marine also lists a number of dealers across the country who may have NLA parts still in stock, so you might check with them as well:

www.crowleymarine.com/parts/5997.cfm

I stole a couple of attachments from the Marineengine forum posting, so we can make sure we're talking about the same bearing. The one that's pressed-into the top of the lower gearcase, ?yes? The one with loose rollers. The other one is a smaller needle bearing that presses into the case, lower than the big bearing.

HTH..........ed