# 1981 Johnson 35 HP "slipping" while in forward



## aflatsnut (Feb 12, 2010)

Could be the gear on the end of the prop shaft. Drain lower unit oil and inspect, if you have metal shavings in it...not good.
Also if oil looks milky, water has invaded your foot. Water is not a good lubricant.


----------



## Frank_Sebastian (Oct 15, 2007)

I think you have a problem with the shift dog. You can reverse the dog on the prop shaft and it will work for a while, but there is a groove on the dog to identify the front from the rear and OMC says not to reverse them. The metal is very hard so no repair is possible the only remedy being replacement of the shift dog AND gear. (OMCs not mine). I have replaced the shift dog only on my own engines and they worked fine for a long time never failing. They were older engines and saw a lot of use.

Frank_S


----------



## JHammond53 (Jul 21, 2010)

Ok, sounds like I should start with the oil. I will drain it tomorrow and see what it looks like. If I have metal shavings does that pretty much mean its the gear/clutch dog?


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 23, 2010)

if it isnt a tiller try adjusting the cables from the throttle box i forgot wich one is for the gearbox or the carb so play with it with the earmuffs on it 

look for these 









and they should be here









sorry for the seperate pics, my motor is up on a cherry picker and i took the cables out of it

i had the same problem 
i thought i spun my prop .....nope
checked the shear pin............40hps dont have any 

but my buddys dad took a look at it and twisted them around and found the sweet spot because it wiggled it self loose

if this dosent help im sorry


----------



## JHammond53 (Jul 21, 2010)

> if it isnt a tiller try adjusting the cables from the throttle box i forgot wich one is for the gearbox or the carb so play with it with the earmuffs on it
> 
> i had the same problem
> i thought i spun my prop .....nope
> ...



Thanks but fortunately/unfortunately it is tiller driven.


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 23, 2010)

look under the cowling and if the gear selector is on the side (outside) it might have a linkage to the same configueration as the throttle and gear cables just set up for a tiller. there could possibly be a linkage from the external gear selector to a plastic threded piece 
(just like the link from the top of the black thingie to the carb)
that should be bolted onto the part that opens the butterfly valve in the carb and sets into gear (the black thing under the fly wheel) and if you look on the bottom of that you will see a bolt sticking out with nothing on it; it was where the gear line was connected and it pushed right to left but yours should pull right to left from the gear selector on the side

i dont know all the technical terms but if i could see it i could figure it out
if you could try to get some pictures up so i can see what it looks like please
[smiley=1-mmm.gif]


----------



## JHammond53 (Jul 21, 2010)

Alright, this is going to be somewhat long, but should be informative enough to get the point across.

First up, here is a couple pictures of the motor with the cover off. 




















When in neutral notice that this white "lever" is in the central position










This is what it looks like in forward 










And this is what it looks like in reverse










Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me with that when I am shifting gears. I simply put those up for reference on how I believe it works.


Here is where I "think" lies the problem. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong as I am no outboard mechanic, simply just a hands-on kinda guy.

This black rod sticks this far up when in neutral (which seems fine to me)










Then when in reverse it sits flush. I have no problems with the motor in reverse, it runs fine.










Then when in forward it sits about 1/8" to 1/4" (guess) below. 










This is where I think the problem lies because as said in the first post, when running in forward it seems to "slip" but when I pull the lever back towards neutral without going into neutral it seems to spin fine. Pulling the lever back towards neutral would cause that black rod to move up and sit flush like how reverse does.

Let me know what you guys think.


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 23, 2010)

is there a place to adjust the black rod?


----------



## huebillionaire (Nov 24, 2020)

I'm in the same boat but missing this part! HELP


----------

