Impeller? IMPLOSION!

[lanyard]

Wow. Pulled the lower unit, took the pump housing apart and there were chunks of impeller stuck in the "out" flow area. Pulled the wear plate seal thing and had to pick out impeller pieces for 5 minutes to get in and check it out.

It's '66 mercury 9.8 hp. Took about an hour to get from "I should do this now" to having the impeller collar off. The last part took the most figgering and jiggering to slide off. Was happy I didn't have to remove the drive shaft.

Heading to TC Outboard in Shakopee for the impeller. Apparently there were two or three ID sizes of impellers for this era, need the parts to match them up.

So far, I've been able to keep finding the pin that holds the collar to the drive shaft. My biggest fear is losing little damn things like that. Guessing after that, the next PITA will be lining the spine shank on the drive shaft when I put it back together.... and making sure all the connections realign.

Will run a weed eater line through the upper part of the water system to make sure there aren't any clogs. Flushed some crud out of the flush hole, but everything seems to be running clear. Just need some pressure to push the water.

I know I'm getting to the point I'll have to come into this century with some of these things, but damned if old sh!t that works well isn't somehow a whole lot more interesting.

Heading to the deer shack this weekend... hoping the '56 IH 360 starts right up... cool old tractor, but needs a shat ton of hydraulic work. Oh well, it's just hoses, right?

[Nershi]

Your first mistake was buying a Mercury. Your second mistake was spending time/money fixing a Mercury.

Have fun up at the shack! With the state of the deer population up there you might need to start calling it the grouse or duck shack. We are going out to get our shack cleared up this weekend for the season as well. Our tractor isn't as cool as yours but it takes a lot less hydraulic fluid.

[lanyard]

Near as I can tell the mistake was not dropping the lower unit to inspect when I bought it. Had to take in for the guy to put the lower unit back on... water line was bent and shifter out of line. I could only get lower unit to within 3/8th inch. Bummer.

Have a line a Ducktwin. Based on the story of the guy that has it, he's a bit of a collector... I might not be his buyer if he's asking collector end of the fee scale.

[Nershi]

The duckwin's are sweet! My grandpa was going to give me his but my uncle complained when he heard about it and he got it. They definitely hold collector value.

The lightwin's are the same motors as far as I can tell except they are not painted duck brown. My buddy picked up a mint lightwin for $250 recently and you can usually get them in good condition for $300-$350. The Johnson's from that era that have the weedless skag are also good motors but not quite as smooth as the evindrude's. My grandpa said the foldable lightwin's have more problems than the regular ones but I can't remember what.

I did a quick search and found a couple. http://duluth.craigslist.org/boa/4672251019.html http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/b ... 41977.html

[Bullet21XD]

Why would anybody buy some 50 year old piece of siht motor with any intention of actually using it??

[lanyard]

^^^ fits better with my home made blind, 40 year old boat, and 30 year old hunting jacket.....

Thanks Nersh, I've been checking them out and the $250-$350 isn't what I've been seeing. Reports on the folders are that they're neat, but that doesn't hold value when it's broken. At this point, guessing there won't be one this year. Need to reconfigure the cylinder index before I bring in another one. Get the 4hp Merc sold, then I should be set.

[Nershi]

Why would anybody buy some 50 year old piece of siht motor with any intention of actually using it??

You're right! Don't buy one.

The newer small motors run much better through thick weeds and rice, always start within the first three pulls, require very little maintenance and are easy/cheap to repair if needed....

If anyone has one of these 50 year old piece of siht 3HP evinrude motors laying around I would be interested in buying it for spare parts if the price is right. Broke a skag of one of ours last year.