These two motors (’85 25hp & ’88 28hp) came from completely different places. One from lake champlain, the other western mass. But who knows where they originated from back in the day, how many hands they changed, prior to being put out to pasture only to find their way into my workshop to be revitalized.
I seem to have random luck with weird situations like the three 9.9/15hp gearcases in a row earlier in the season that all had stripped/broken pinion gears. Go figure after working on dozens.
IMHO, these arent really that hard to install the typical way. You hold the key in place and than gently seat the impeller.
It does take a steady hand and some experience, or even just a glob of grease to hold the key on while positioning the impeller. But it’s still not as difficult as reinstalling one of those old 6hp gearcases with the lower powerhead water/oil seal w/o snapping the driveshaft roll pins!
PS – no plagiarism in this post (just finished watching the GOP convention)