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1957 Johnson 35hp RDE-19 gear shift handle adjustment.

L

Longtrip

New member
Just rebuilt theRDE-19 lower unit with new gears bearings and seals. What's the procedure for adjusting the gear shift handle. I can't seem to find it in my Sealoc manual.
 
The coupler that connects the two shift shafts needs to be installed correct first. Center the notch on the shaft with the bolt hole and tighten the bolt tight. It is the same for both shafts. You should not have to adjust the handle unless you loosened the screws connecting it to the horizontal shift shaft. When the gearbox is in neutral the prop should spin free the handle should be straight up and the detent should be centered in the center notch on the shift lock lever.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-20-25-hp...ash=item4650f46cd4:g:ydkAAOxyRhBSuNpr&vxp=mtr
The shift lock looks like this.
 
It is pretty simple make sure the gearbox is in neutral and the shift lock is in the center notch with the detent and then tighten the screws for the handle. To check it spin the prop as you shift the handle should move the same distance in fwd and rev from neutral and the detent should be fully seated in its respective notch on the shift lock. The shift lock performs two functions you cannot go wot in neutral or reverse and it also keeps you from shifting out of gear at wot.
 
What kim said is true. Moving shifter from neutral should start to engage the gears equally distant from the neutral notch in the interlock bar (while spinning the prop). That's for Utopia. In the real world, favor earlier engagement of forward so the clutch dog goes fully into the forward gear recess. In the real, real world, the exhaust housing may be worn and sloppy where the shifter shaft goes through. In that case, you do the best you can.
 
There is fine line between tweaking the shifter to hold it firmly into forward gear and binding the clutch cradle for premature failure. It is too easy to make that adjustment thinking your doing good and risk premature failure or poor shifting qualities. The best thing is to shift it firmy into gear with a quick motion with the handle. Do not shift slowly that is what rounds out the dog ears.
 
I had the very problem that fdrgator described with the exhaust housing being worn where the shift lever goes through it. It was actually worn to a taper. That made the shift mechanism so sloppy that I could not adjust it to get both forward and reverse. There is a plastic bushing between the shaft and the housing on the shift handle end. That bushing was also badly worn. I got a replacement, and when I installed it, it put a light coat of JB Weld on the outside of that plastic bushing to fill the gap between the plastic bushing and exhaust housing. Seemed to work well. I checked, and it is still easy to remove the plastic bushing for future service. JB weld stuck to the housing, but not the bushing. Hope that helps.
 
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