Stuck gearshift Yamaha 5hp

Bucksribster · 22 March 2014, 19:53

I am looking for some advice from you learned ribnetters. I bought an ancient Yamaha 5hp (5C6E3 single cylinder water cooled, integral fuel tank) off fleabay for refurbishing as an auxiliary for my Avon. The engine runs fine, but the gear changer is seized. I have taken the lower unit off, and thankfully the gearbox is fine, it is the connecting rod from the gear change lever that is seized. I have tried lots of WD40, but to no avail.

I think I need to dismantle the top end to get to the mechanism that changes the rotation of the lever shaft on the side of the outboard to the up and down of the shaft connecting to the gearbox.

I loosened off all of the bolts I could see on the underside of the powerhead casing, but nothing seemed to move, and I did not have the courage to remove all the bolts completely in case the whole powerhead fell off!

Any advice gratefully received.

Festinghouse · 22 March 2014, 21:09

dont worry about the powerhead coming off as its so easy to remove anyway - took mine off to paint the whole leg and cowl, whilst it was off i was able to clean out all the waterways which get furred up so easily on these small engines. does your linkage not have a grease nipple on it? im pretty sure mine does, maybe try forcing some grease in?

Bucksribster · 23 March 2014, 00:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Festinghouse

dont worry about the powerhead coming off as its so easy to remove anyway - took mine off to paint the whole leg and cowl, whilst it was off i was able to clean out all the waterways which get furred up so easily on these small engines. does your linkage not have a grease nipple on it? im pretty sure mine does, maybe try forcing some grease in?

Thanks for this. I could not see any grease nipple. Did your power head come away cleanly when you had undone all the bolts, or did you have to free it off? Also did you have to disconnect much first?

Festinghouse · 23 March 2014, 08:38

think it may have needed a little encouragement though not too much. off memory its just a case of releasing the fuel line to carb, throttle cable and ignition coil. my personal opinion is that the job is easy enough, and well worth doing just to do a clean out if nothing else.

paintman · 23 March 2014, 09:42

Try a proper penetrating/release fluid such as Plusgas or one of the 'Freeze and release' products - even diesel works well. WD40 is a waste of time for this purpose.

Tris · 23 March 2014, 13:53

IV done lots of these. Common fault. Remove the power head and clean up. Replace with fresh gasket and grease.