Shift handle repair on 1960 Evinrude Sportwin 10 HP

[Mark Luetschwager]

Hi, I am repairing this motor and the shift lever has broken off at some time in the past and the missing end is long gone.  I have a friend who is a professional welder, and he tells me if its aluminum it can be welded, but if its magnesium to forget it because he doesn’t have the special equipment needed.  Since I’ve read this is a very common problem with these motors, I’m wondering what others have done to address this issue.  The good news is that the shaft the handle mounts onto moves fine and the lower unit itself shifts well.  As you can see in the photos, the bad news is that it has broken off so short and jagged that the unit is hard to shift and maybe even painful.  Thanks for your help, Mark

[labrador-guy]

Welcome Mark, your shift leaver probably got broken in transit sometime.  Always remember to lay your motor on the tiller handle side when hauling it .  Check ebay for a good used one, they come up for sale from time to time.

dale

[Gary H.]

I went to marineengine.com and looked up shift handle by year and horsepower. Part# 0278025 or 278025. They have 2 (new) in stock. $47.43 each. Search eBay by “ Evinrude 278025” there are new ones starting at $20 and free shipping. I would find it cheaper to replace the handle than spending time trying to repair it or paying someone to weld it. Plus you won’t have to worry about hurting your hand if the repair breaks again. With either a repair or new purchase, it would have to be painted to match your motor.

[Mark Luetschwager]

Well gosh, thanks to both of you guys!  This is just the sort of things I was hoping would happen when I became a member, and I believe I will shoot over to EBay and buy a new handle.  Sure, I will paint the motor when I’m done, but there is quite a bit of sun fading on the fiberglass hood, and some rubbing through to the yellow fiberglass.  I will make it work better than it looks, I hope.  I’ll still have to see my friend John the welder because when the p.o. had the thermostat plug with weeds and junk, he didn’t realize it or didn’t know how to remove the housing and clean or replace it.  So, at some point the head overheated (paint discolored and white corrosion) with a gasket leak and of course a couple of the head bolts became corroded and snapped off in spite of carefully using an impact wrench to loosen  them.  John has a great technique in his method of welding a bolt on the exposed end of the broken bolt and then I can usually back it out instead of drilling it out.  (Fingers crossed).  I’ll shoot some paint then, I hope.

[Gary H.]

The welding trick on broken head bolts worked for me on a 1953 Evinrude Fastwin. I think it has to do with the high heat of welding the new bolt on that actually loosens the corrosion. The new bolt head makes it easy to put a socket or wrench on for extraction.

[Mark Luetschwager]

Interesting.  I hadn’t figured why it works, I’ve only seen that it does.  That darned corrosion has rusted all of those head bolts tighter than their tiny diameters can handle; and they just won’t back out no matter what I’ve tried.  Next week I’ll take the engine to his shop and have him do his welding magic…

[labrador-guy]

Mark ebay really helps us do this hobby.  Some people think their parts a made of gold but usually with a little looking you can find what you need with an except-able price.   We have lots of members making there own parts.  Great to here you found what you need.

dale

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