Hi All

I’m working on a pretty beat up 1957 FDE 11 and am in the process of rebuilding the LU. I came across an interesting problem while trying to connect up the lower unit . It just would not connect. It was almost as if something was stopping it from connecting it to the powerhead. I have done a hundred of these over the years and this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this. After consulting my parts books I see that the FDE 11 has a pinion gear 377147. The 1958 FDE 11 has a pinion gear 304569 plus a thrust washer 303996. I should mention that I have a parts motor FD 11 (no electric start) that I am swapping parts from.

I have done a rough fitting without the thrust washer as per the ’57 parts diagram and it “seems” to connect up ok. I guess my question is did they change to a thrust washer in ’58 and maybe my parts LU is a ’58? I’m thinking of going sans thrust washer. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks Ken