Outboard Gear lever.

[seadog30]

Tohatsu 2 stroke 3.5hp plastic gearlever.

The gear lever works but is so stiff that I am concerned that it could break. I have soaked the area where the shaft enters the engine case with release oil with no change.

Advice please.

 

[William_H]

I don't know the Tahatsu but the old Johnson 6 had a similar problem. It did have a grease nipple but I could not get grease in. It was a case of stainless steel shaft into ali. I added an extension to make the shift useable but yes even with ali lever it did break at one stage. At one stage I drilled into the ali casting and fitted another grease nipple which did help. Later I had occasion to remove the power head which exposed the inside of the shaft and the lever which push pulls the gear shift rod down to the gear box. It was then removed and cleaned up properly.
So I can't really help with Tohatsu. Heat on the axle may help. Lots of working of the shift with lubricants might help. Ultimately you might have to dismantle completely. good luck olewill

 

[VicS]

Tohatsu 2 stroke 3.5hp plastic gearlever.

The gear lever works but is so stiff that I am concerned that it could break. I have soaked the area where the shaft enters the engine case with release oil with no change.

Advice please.

Yes you will break it off if you dont free it up

You dont say what year so difficult to direct you to the right info

There may be a small cover in front of the lever held by two screws that will allow access to the inner end of the shift lever and allow you to lubricate or more importantly to remove the lever to clean out corrosion of the aluminum casting through which it passes.

grease well when reassembling

Diagrams on the parts website https://www.tohatsuoutboardparts.com/Parts-Books.html may help

 

[Seajet]

My father had a very similar problem with a Yamaha 4hp 2-stroke, it's a well known problem.

He drilled down vertically through the alloy casing above the shaft of the plastic gearshift, allowing oil to be applied, with a simple bit of plastic tape over the top of the hole; works a treat.

If a bad case it may require removing and fettling the plastic shaft first to give it a head start, after that a few drops of oil now and again and that's it.

 

[VicS]

My father had a very similar problem with a Yamaha 4hp 2-stroke, it's a well known problem.

He drilled down vertically through the alloy casing above the shaft of the plastic gearshift, allowing oil to be applied, with a simple bit of plastic tape over the top of the hole; works a treat.

If a bad case it may require removing and fettling the plastic shaft first to give it a head start, after that a few drops of oil now and again and that's it.

I was wondering, and its something the Op could look into when he has the shift lever out, if it would be possible to fit a grease nipple like Will's Johnson and my Evinrude.

I guess it would have to be positioned between the two O rings you see on the exploded diagram.

Otherwise an oiling hole like you suggest .

Sad that its a "well known problem" on these when other makes have grease nipples fitted. There are 5 in total on my 'rude

 

[seaangler23]

I had a similar issue with an ervinrude, the gear selector spins an arm which pivots in the alloy casing, I pulled it apart, power head and all to get access and there was a plastic bush it turned in but there was corrosion on between this and the casing which was squeezing the pivot, cleaned it up and it is really smooth now, if it's kind of issue no amount of oil it grease will sort it

 

[jwilson]

I have two of these engines, one Tohatsu one almost identical but Mercury badged. Both had the same problem after bout 5 years use, a little dismantling will let you get the shaft out, clean up and grease. Applying oil etc from outside won't work, from memory there are rubber O-rings on the shaft. Once done OK again for years. I think this is an almost universal problem on these generally excellent engines.

From memory the shafts on mine were metal with a plastic handle but a couple of years since I've done the cleanup/fix.

 

[reginaldon]

You're not alone folks - Yamaha 5 2str -thanks for advice.

 

[seadog30]

Thanks VicS and all


The engine year plate says that it is 2006

There is no grease nipple or apparent means of external lubrication

Its amazing that with this being such a common problem that an otherwise good design has such a poor "feature".

I will now try to reduce it to the component parts and clean the shaft.
Regards

 

[Mistroma]

Thanks VicS and all


The engine year plate says that it is 2006

There is no grease nipple or apparent means of external lubrication

Its amazing that with this being such a common problem that an otherwise good design has such a poor "feature".

I will now try to reduce it to the component parts and clean the shaft.
Regards

Similar problem with my Mariner 3.3 when gear levr became very stiff and snapped off when around 2 years old. I expected it to be metal but the lever was only plastic. I made a temporary repair by inserting a metal pin and joining the ends back until I could get new part.

The new part was OK for a year and then began to stiffen up again. Lubrication didn't help so I removed it sanded a little from the diameter. That was fine but it began to stiffen up again. I came to the conclusion that the plastic was swelling up after I'd lubricated it with the suggested grease. I sanded it again to make the action smooth and used silicone grease this time. It has been fine ever since.

It might be worth checking if your lever is similar to the one on the Mercury/Mariner 3.3 model. Suggest using silicone grease.

 

[TQA]

I am pretty sure you wil find that the Mercury/Mariner 3.3 model is a rebadged Tohatsu.

Gear lever stiffness is a known issue.

 

[Mistroma]

I am pretty sure you wil find that the Mercury/Mariner 3.3 model is a rebadged Tohatsu.

Gear lever stiffness is a known issue.

I thought that it was the same engine but wasn't 100% certain. On my engine, either the rod was expanding, the hole contracting or both. Removing a little plastic by rotating in wet'n dry and refitting the O-rings solved the problem for a year. It felt tight again even when testing without O-rings and I removed a little more from the shaft. However, I used silicone grease when refitting on off chance the plastic was reacting with the recommended grease. Problem vanished and has not returned after another 2 years in use. Probably worth trying.

 

[Mark-1]

Thread revival to say I've just done this job, on the 'plastic lever' version. Some notes for others who find this thread via Google in the future.

I used a file to file to file the plastic down. I've put the o rings back on.

I only had lithium marine grease so I've used that. I will report back if it causes problems.

It seems there there are two different failure modes. The metal ones get clogged and rusted and on the plastic ones the plastic swells. (Or maybe the aluminium oxidises and makes the hole smaller? Although mine looks immaculate and perfectly clean.)

I'm sharing a couple of photos for anyone in future takes this job on.

I needed to take the engine cover off purely to get a socket over the bolt to tighten it. Reckon others could get away with that.

The cover with 2 10mm bolts which gives access to the Philips screw you need to remove to pull the gear lever out.



The cover off with the Philips Screw visible and a red line to indicate where the lever 'rod' goes through the casting.




There is zero chance any lube would get past the o rings so any attempt to lube the lever without pulling it right out is wasted IMHO.

I also think removing the two o rings as a fix is utterly pointless. They create no fiction at all compared to the large area of plastic wedged tight and you want the o rings to seal the unit, rather than relying on tight plastic!

Massive thanks for the advice in this thread and all the others on YBW.