[Liefie]

Hello All - I just bought a C&C 24 and I'm in love. Sadly, the starter cable on it's Evinrude 6hp outboard broke within a week. I thought it would be an easy replacement, even for a girl, but things went awry and now I need to replace the spring as well. It's not your standard starter mechanism, it has a grooved spool for the cable and a tightly wound double spring internal to the spool - see schematic:

Johnson Rewind Starter - 6/8 Parts for 1984 6hp J6RCRM Outboard Motor

I'm looking for someone who has intimate knowledge of this type of starter to give me some tips!

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[bblument]

Michelle,

I bought a 1987 Johnson 8hp a year and a half ago, and, without any outboard experience, rebuilt the entire bottom end, water pump, carburetor, and replaced the safety interlock and cord on the same starter system you're asking about. I did it with the help of one great website and the service manual. If you like your engine and you're planning on keeping it, get the service manual..

http://www.marineengine.com/parts/p...ype=Service+Manual&Engine=394670&Model=6RLCRM

It's not cheap, (about $60)
but it'll pay for itself the first time you work on your engine instead of paying someone else.

You COULD order an aftermarket service manual and save about $30, and probably still be OK.. Here's one..

Johnson Evinrude Outboards 1.25-60HP 1973-1989 Repair Manual 1-2 Cylinder, 2 Stroke - Seloc 1302-IB

In my experience with cars, it pays to have the OEM manuals, even though they're much more expensive than, say, the Haynes (bleeccchh) or Bentley (actually, pretty good most of the time) versions.

Here's a site maintained by a guy who's great with these engines, and this link is specifically about a Johnson engine of the same vintage. I believe that Evinrude and Johnson are pretty much the same engine (OMC?), so all of this SHOULD transfer to your engine. If you cursor down the page, you'll find a section that will walk you through fixing your starter..

New Page 1

Good luck. As you're doing the job, let me know if you have any specific questions. Getting the spool and spring back in place can be a LITTLE tricky, but just keep trying.. it'll slide into the notches once you get it lined up right.

Best to you,

Barry

 

[Liefie]

Barry,

Thanks so much for the tips and great links, they'll come in handy I'm sure! I appreciate you taking the time and being so thorough.

The starter is running perfectly now with the brand new spring and starter cord I installed. (Yes, that spring was fun!) I think there's a quick trick to installing that cord but I took the long way around and around and around and it all worked out in the end. Somehow, magically, working on the motor makes me like it so much more! I don't view it as a mysterious pain in the you know what anymore!

Much happiness to you,
Michelle