Reassembling Mark 5 leg to powerhead

[jimbrizzolara]

I replaced the impeller in my 1953 Mercury Mark 5, now I’m unable to mate the driveshaft back into the crankshaft. I installed the upper leg and am trying to get the lower unit to go the rest of the way. The shift cable is already through the tube all the way out the end near the powerhead. I can’t get the lower unit closer than about 1″ away from where it has to go. The water tube is in the water impeller housing. What’s the prescribed method for this job?

[billw]

Maybe an obvious suggestion, but you do have to turn the flywheel to get the drive shaft splines to engage. One inch does seem like a driveshaft spline miss. It is a PITA. I liked to do it with the motor completely upside down. That seemed to help me quite a bit. Just make sure when you put it upside down, that there is NOT ONE DROP of water in it.

Long live American manufacturing!

[jimbrizzolara]

Thanks for the response Bill. I have tried it with the motor upside down and I’m moving the flywheel. I hope this impeller lasts a long time because I wouldn’t want to install another one on this motor.

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