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70hp johnson seahorse throttle bushing replacement

Redwind899

New member
We bought a boat (92 crestliner 160 sportfish) with a 70 hp johnson mid 70's early 80's I think.
The throttle has been very stiff so I pulled all the linkage apart and cables.
Cables run smooth and everything in the control box is smooth

Turned to the motor side and found the throttle arm was super stiff. Took me about 2 hrs of wiggling back and forth to get it off. I cleaned everything up and tried to put back together but the plastic bushing that is inserted where the bolt goes is giving me a rough time. How do I get the damn thing back together. Even went and got new bushings because I thought the old ones might of swelled over time but still the same problem
 
70's to 80's makes the year a 20 year spread..... We need the model number of the engine to determine what you have.
 
Number 53. It fits fine in the throttle arm assembly but trying to push it back onto the stud on the crank case has Givin me lots of troubles. I've cleaned up everything probably 6 times, re greased and still no go. I've tried tapping it in with a large socket and hammer but don't want to mess up the bushing.
Screenshot_20230909_092644_Chrome.jpg
 
Just need to do some simple work -----Emery paper / file to get rid of corrosion or a burr on the parts.-----They used that bushing for many years ( 1968 to 2001 ) on those 3 cylinder motors , and there is no issue with that part.
 
I've cleaned everything up with emry paper 2 times now and still struggle.

Any chance the throttle arm could be different sizes from different years?

The guy I bought the boat off of said he had another motor the same size and was swapping parts back and forth trying to fix some issues.
 
They built the same stuff year after year.----Bring it over and I think it can be sorted out in short order.----This is really simple stuff.
 
I likely have about 20 of those arms / bushings laying around.--------Just my way of saying that this should be simple to fix !
 
I likely have about 20 of those arms / bushings laying around.--------Just my way of saying that this should be simple to fix !
That's what I thought too. I'm very mechanically inclined and have rebuilt countless motors but this just seems like somethings not right. Seems like the tolerances are way too tight and requires way too much force to get it reassembled. If I put the bushing in backwards it's not bad but then I have steel rubbing on steel from the shift linkage arm on the throttle arm.
 
Well figured it out. Was cold last night
So I soaked he throttle arm in hot water for 5 mins then it slid on the stud perfect. Let it cool off for a bit then tested function and all is good now.
Now time for new cables
 
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