BFJ8 broken swivel case

Newbie here! Fortunately not new to engines but this is my first Honda BAAJ 8 HP 4-stroke Serial number 1106221

Bought it from a hire business. A customer had backed the boat into the wharf and smashed the swivel case, started to strip it then sold the business.

Parts manual suggest I can buy the parts needed for around $200 ex US but the mechanics are talking nearly a grand for the labour, so any help to do the work myself would be much appreciated. Here are the main questions:

1 The springs/arms etc have been removed (section 12-12 in the Honda manual) Does the connection at the base of the housing just slide off? - (section 12-7) OR do the bolts holding the swivel to the tiller arm have to be removed? (virtually impossible to undo - they must have been installed frozen into the rubber housing

2 Despite putting the unit into reverse, backing off the lock nut and turning the sleeve nut, the shift rod will not separate. How to do this without causing damage?

3. Assuming the shift rod is undone, will the entire case now slide off, or is it necessary to remove the lower unit?

4. If the latter has to be removed, is this the time to fit a water pump kit and impeller?

Any help appreciated

I seem to remember changing a power tilt swivel shaft to a non power tilt motor several years ago.

You will need to get the shift shaft apart somehow. I do not recall having that much trouble getting the locking nuts apart.

You look like you almost have the lower motor mounts off. You will need to remove the upper motor mounts...bolts 33 and probably 31 http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2002/BF8D2 SHA/SWIVEL CASE/parts.html

Once you get the shift shaft apart, then you should be able to lift the powerhead, midsection and lower unit up and out of the swivel. You will be sliding the shift shaft out of the top of the shaft.

Then you should have the swivel assembly separate so you can work on it.

I hope I remembered correctly.

Mike

As for the water pump....if the motor is new to you, it is always wise to start with a fresh water pump, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and gear lube. At this time, you have bigger fish to fry.

Thanks Mike

That lower mount is, as you observe, almost free, or would be if I could separate the shift rod. Despite turning the two nuts to their extremities, the two shaft section will not separate. I read somewhere on this site that holding one part with a vise grip and hammering it up would do this but that seems a bit extreme. The only other option seems to be removing the gearbox - also loathe to do because that would mean replacing another heap of seals.

The parts drawings are a bit confusing. If bolts 33 are the relatively small ones holding the (locking) friction plate (11) to the housing - these have already been removed. However, if the bolts are the big ones connecting the tiller arm, they go into a rubber mount (3) and have been frozen in during assembly. So far, I cannot get them out without destroying them or damaging the rubber. Maybe a good squirt of aerosol butane to freeze them? OR can the (3) mounts be replaced without removing the power head?

Sorry to be a pain, but I do appreciate your advice

Alan

???------Removing the lower unit does not result in having to replace a " heap of seals "-------Try to remove the lower unit now.---------The upper nut may well have a right hand AND left hand thread in it for adjustment.------The lower nut should not have been moved other than to unlock it.

Thanks

That upper sleeve nut has a conventional right hand thread at the bottom end but I take your point that there may be left hand thread at the top. It does not matter which way I turn it, it eventually will stop turning without disconnecting the shaft. Therefore, is removal of gearbox the best option?

How about those bolts at the top. 28 ft/lb is doable but if the swivel unit will slide off after the shift rod is uncoupled, maybe this eliminates the need to remove those bolts?

Removing the lower unit is very easy.-------------You appear to be overthinking this.

No - having removed the bolts connecting the lower unit, it will only slide off about 50 mm because the shift rod is still connected. I have tried again to separate the two sections but regardless of which direction the sleeve nut is turned, it will not release. This also means it is impossible to get at the pin holding the push rod in place to slide the whole thing out of the water pump housing.

I have reexamined everything and if that rod could be separated, the swivel case just slides off

I posted some info last night, but I guess it did not go through.

Try hitting the nut with some heat from a torch.

Another alternative may be to disconnect the upper shift shaft in front of the power head from the lever. You have to take a bunch of things off to get to it and then it may be a problem pulling it down through since the vertical drive shaft will limit how much you can move the lower portion of the shift shaft.

If you cut the shift shaft, there may not be enough left to properly set the shift.

Mike

Thanks Mike

Hard to get to the sleeve nut with any kind of heat device because it is pretty well covered by the lower end of the casing but I do have a mini-gas torch that might work, so I'll try that.

I agree that cutting the shaft is a dodgy option. There seems to be plenty of thread but you are right - the adjustment may be restricted.

The most extreme option might be the best, if the gas torch does not work on its own: The swivel case has been shattered anyway, so an angle grinder with an ultra-thin blade could literally cut away the lower section of the case for removal. Then it will be possible to grip the part A of the shaft firmly while turning the sleeve nut - with or without heat. This is critical - without gripping that upper shaft, trying to turn the sleeve nut beyond where it is jamming is most likely to damage the shaft, then it really would be necessary to remove the engine, oil pump and heaps of other stuff. It does not appeal - I'm not that sure I could reassemble it all correctly

Wish me luck withe gas torch and/or the grinder

Alan

torch and grinder should not be needed here.

Well, Racerone, that may well be true, but if you have read the details I provided, you will note that nothing else will shift the sleeve nut off the Part A of the rod. Further attempts with more force are only likely to deform and/or break it.

Do you have a better suggestion?

GOT IT!

The sleeve nut had got itself "welded" to the upper shaft with corrosion or whatever. A combination of soaking overnight in "Rostoff" plus heat today from a gas torch did the job. After some creaking and groaning, managed to get the additional half turn it needed to separate the two sections.

I also managed to loosen the two top bolts enough to generate the movement needed to slide the tube off. Of course, the lower unit now comes off too so I can get at the water pump

What a swine of a job but at least now I can order the parts and put it all back together (that will be the next challenge)

Thanks to all who contributed - Mike especially

Alan