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Is this amount of "wiggle" ok on the throttle cam? (Johnson 55HP 1979)

jasondainter

Regular Contributor
I have a Johnson 55HP from 1980 (engine model 55EL80C).

I am reassembling the throttle cam (I took it off when removing and cleaning the carbs)

When i tried to put the original bolt back on I sheared it off (oops). Luckily used an easyout to get the thread out, and managed to find a new bolt here in Sweden (not cheap!).

Now I reassambled it again, am am torquing this to 8nm (which seems to be correct for 1/4" threads like this according to manual). It ends up like seen in the video below with a fair amount of wiggle movement and that washer seems to shake around a fair bit.

Is that normal?

I'm scared to tighten it any more and dont think it goes any further anyway (thats how I broke the last one).

I presume this is how its meant to be with that washer shaking around a bit on there (part 204445).

Also, I might have done something silly. When I took that washer off (part 204445) I noticed it was a bit bend. I assumed it was not supposed to be like that so I straightened the washer. Then after googling the part 204445 (heres google image search) in most cases that washer appears to be wavy when new. Perhaps the wave is meant to stop the washer from wiggling around too much on there? Not sure.

 
Oh dear! And there was me thinking I was being thorough by tidying up an old washer :-/ It just looked so wonky so I had this deep urge to straghten it out! I'll be sure to curb that urge in future!

Now I see on this site they call these 'Wave Washers' for a reason. Its a shame the manual didnt call it that it might have prevented my stupidity on this!

Getting hold of one of these is going to take some time, but I'll probably do it.

In the mean time, how bad a situation is this? Can I use the boat for a bit with the current amount of wiggle room?
 
I did a make shift job bending it back as best I could and ordered a new one from eBay. That 20 dollar lesson will teach me to not go straightening my wonky washers in the future! ��
 
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