Help me you OMC buffs - 1974 135hp

Hi guys, hey I brought a 1974 135hp Johnson that seems pretty sweet for an old girl, BUT !
I've been trying to remove the lower leg to do the prudent thing , check the pump & impellor, but I can't get it off !!.
I haven't forced anything and it would appear to be the gear change linkage stopping me from pulling it off.
It gets about 1" down & stops !! --- stop laughing !!.
I went to the local outboard shop and talked to the mechanic who said they're #*^%& things to get off because the pin under the carbs has to be removed so that the whole gear linkage can slide out the bottom.
It is a very very tight fit under the carbs -- oh, it looks like I can take off the air intake shroud & then a plate under that to give a little more room to "work" on the linkage pin.

I find it very hard to believe that it could / should be so darn difficult to do what is a basicly a yearly maitainence check
Somebody please tell me I'm wrong !!.

The lower leg of this outboard has obviously been replaced [ it's a slightly different colour] and in fact the old boy who was the only owner, said it was 10 years ago. The pin joining the gear change lever to the top of the vertical shift rod appears to never have been removed !! [ just looking at it with a torch] worse is, it appears to be a riveted pin - that is, it's not a moving pin with a split pin on one or two sides of it . ???????

I can see what appears to be the marks of a vice grip on the gear change shaft right at the point it enters the lower leg, but other than that I can;t see any joining "link" or such.

There was a slightly newer model [ 140hp ] at the outboard shop and I could clearly see that the shaft could be disconnected just under the carbs -- but not , it seems, on my old girl .
Ok, I'll stop raving so someone can talk to me PLLLLLEEEEAASSSSEEEE !!!

 

IIRC, you have to take the whole transverse lever apart at the pivot bolt and shifter linkage, the one that see-saws and either lifts or presses down the shift rod to go from neutral to either F or R. The more central end has a fixed pin that goes into the eye on the upper end of the shifter rod. That help any?

 

"Any help" !!, not getting me any sleep !!!. Thanks for your reply fasteddy, but you know you're not telling me something I want to hear LOL.

That "central end pin" looks like it's never moved in it's 34 year old life , it looks more like a rivet than a pin. Just to get at it is a mission .

 

Thanks for your private message globaldude but Im sorry I cant help . I have had then off but it was so long ago. I used to own one. I dont remember anything exept not having a problem. Just cant remember,-- sorry.

 

You don't have to get at the pin itself, just the bolt that holds the two halves of the lever together and the outer end where the linkage is attached. Remove that pivot bolt, and you can slip rod pin out of the rod eye. Not the easiest thing to get at with the carbs on, but not that hard. Lube the pivot and pin!.

 

" TWO HALVES" !!! , that's the key - woohoo !! , you beauty .
I have had the central pivot bolt out, tricky but not so hard as you said, but not realising the actual "arm" was in two halves, I'd thought the inboard pin might hook into a slot, as opposed to a pin going through the top of the shift rod.
Consequently I didn't remove the outboard bolt holding the two halves together, rather, having taken out the central pivot bolt, I'd tryed to push the arm toward the nonexisting exit to an imagined slot !!.

Right, I'll attack it again and report back.

 

All hail Fasteddy !!!

Mate you're a bloody legend !!.
Funny how it's allways easy when you know how . A good thing I checked the impellor too, as some egg head has obviously run the engine without water and burnt up the impellor. It was probably only giving 50% water to the engine.
I went to the local OMC agent to order the new impellor and while waiting for service I noticed a box of old OMC owners manuals for $5 each, so browsed through them on the off chance ther'd be one for my old girl.
There was a workshop service manual amongst them for the same vintage 115hp model which I got for the five bucks !!. It is virtually the same engine etc & clearly shows the procedure for the removal of the leg, including the "TWO HALVES " of the see saw arm thingy bob .

Alls well that ends well in this case it seems, so thanks again fasteddy and aint it just great to be able to have the internett and all the wealth of experienced people, "on hand" .