mudcatwilly

Well I've been bass fishing for about three years now and I've finally been having some success, much of which was due to the help of the members of this forum early on. So now, I feel that I'm in a new learning stage beyond the basics and need some help with technique. I've gotten pretty good at casting and flipping accurately, but I still cannot consistently get the bait into the water without a splash, especially when casting at a distance. Can somebody break down the technique in making a quiet entry?

Ouch! Well I'd like to help out with the powerhead, but all I have to give ya is a slightly used lower unit with shredded gears. At $0.00, it's the best deal in town. I'm taking mine out on the water in the next few days. Wish me luck.

Yeah, I think what I took away from this whole L/U experience is that the smallest deviation can throw off the linkage. There are just so many darn moving parts in an outboard motor, it's amazing they don't break down all the time. I suppose that's why they're so expensive. Oh, by the way, a big thumbs up to a guy who goes by the handle of HPBB on this forum. He sold me the lower unit at a very fair price, shipped it when he said he would, and answered a lot of my questions. He could have chose to stick it to me on the price because there's not that many L/U's like mine out there, but he didn't. There's still good people out there. Thanks Jim.

Reliable motor, stability in rough water, stronger than needed trolling motor, lots of horsepower, and at least a standard tournament setup. The other stuff's negotiable.

Yeah, it's been suggested to me that the vibration from the motor running was just enough to get the shift rod lined up properly. I think because the replacement L/U was sitting for awhile, things inside the gearcase got a little stiff. The oil that came with the replacement L/U looked good, but I changed it anyway. Maybe it just took the motor a little bit of time to loosen things up in there, kinda like it takes a pitcher a few warmup tosses before he goes into pitch. I don't know, but as hard as it's been to deal with this thing, maybe I was just do for a lucky break. Anywho, my boat is finally up and running after 3 months and I can't wait to get out on the water.

Get something with a V8. Spend a little extra on the truck so you don't have to worry about it.

I would throw a jig with a rattle, a timber tiger crank, a T-rig with brass and glass, or a spinner with a big colorado blade. You want something that displaces a lot of water or something that makes a racket. Some scent wouldn't hurt either.

I'm on the water before sunrise. This time of year, that's 5:30 am for me.

I posted recently about having a problem with my shift linkage after changing out my lower unit. With the motor off, I could get forward and neutral only, but the shifter wouldn't budge into reverse. With the motor running, I could get reverse. Then when I shut the motor off...no reverse again. Well, today I came back to look at the motor and figure out what to do and I tried the shifter with the motor off just for the heck of it. It now shifts fine in forward and reverse. I didn't do anything to it and now it works all of a sudden. Can someone explain how this is possible?

OK, so I did some more messing around with it. I fired it up in the driveway and with the motor running, I can get it into reverse, although the shifter feels a little stiff. Prop engages in forward and reverse and is not spinning in neutral. When I went from forward to reverse with the prop still spinning a bit, it did grind louder than what seems normal. When I shut the motor off, I got it into reverse once, then back to forward and when I shifted back to reverse, it wouldn't budge again. What's the deal? How can I get reverse with the motor running but not get it when the motor's off? Please help.

I did notice that before I put the replacment lower unit on, the shift rod took a lot more effort to move up and down than the rod on my old lower unit. It was especially hard to pull the shift rod up. I believe that "up" is reverse. Does that help?

It's a 1990 Suzuki DT85.

I just changed out my lower unit and when I got everything hooked back up, I noticed that it won't shift into reverse. I get forward and neutral just fine. It was shifting fine before I changed the lower unit. For some reason, I was able to shift it into reverse a couple of times, but then when I shifted forward again, it wouldn't go back into reverse. The shifter won't budge into reverse once it gets past neutral. I didn't change anything except the lower unit. Any ideas?

I'd take off the windshield, cut the bow open, and build a fishing deck. I restored an old Lund trihull earlier this year and did a similar thing. You'll probably (definitely) spend more on parts, paint, etc than the boat is worth. I spent about $1,200 to fix mine up and I didn't have to do anything to the motor.

I have a 1990 Suzuki DT85 and I'm trying to get the lower unit off. I've taken out all the bolts that connect the lower unit to the middle section and I can get the lower unit to drop about 6 or 8 inches. The clutch rod is still attached at the shift mechanism up in the motor and I know I have to get that off the get the lower unit off, but it doesn't want to come off. I have the shop manual and it says to remove the cover at the front of the clutch rod pin and then pull a cotter pin and then pull out the pin connecting the clutch rod. Well, as far as I can tell, there is no cover in front of the clutch rod and there is no cotter pin. I can see where the top of the clutch rod fits around a pin, but the pin looks like it's part of the shifting mechanism and it doesn't simply slide out. What's worse is that the connection between the clutch rod and the shifting mechanism is in an impossible place to get to directly under the lowest carburator. I can push the clutch rod with a flat screwdriver a little bit so that it slides on the pin, but then the rod hits the side of the motor housing and it won't slide all the way off the pin. How in the heck do I get that clutch rod off that pin without taking the motor apart?