Early johnson/evinrude pawl starter assemblies

[opposedtwin]

My johnson MD-38 needed the pawl assembly as all tye parts were gone—pawls, equalizer, springs, snap rings and washers.

I got a donor set from an HD-20 and figured it would be easy since all the part numbers were tge same from model to model. As I placed the pawls on the little stud mounts, I noticed I was never going to get the snap ring into the groove as the pawl was covering up the groove. How could this be since the part numbers are tge same? I figured maybe I had a donor set that really didn’t come from an HD-20 afterall. On the MD model, the stud mounts are cast (or so I thought) into the flywheel. On the HD version, they are part of the starter pulley and not attached to the flywheel. See the pictures.

I measured the stud mounts and sure enough they were not the same length. Then I realized that not all 3 were the same length on the same flywheel! How the heck could that be? They weren’t beat up or ground down or anything like that. They would budge with pliers. Then I flipped the flywheel over and noticed the stud mounts poked theough to the other side. I tapped them with a punch and they moved slightly. Voila! I had no idea they weren’t static. But maybe they should be? Has anyone else run into this problem before?

• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by opposedtwin.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by opposedtwin.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by opposedtwin.

[jcrigan]

I have had a few like these. Those pins are loose for some reason but should not be this way. I believe they are pressed in. On the back side they should all be flush. My suggestion is to drive them out (noting where the hole for the spring goes), clean the pins and the holes. Then use red thread locker on the pin and hole and drive the pins back in. Let it sit overnight to cure then put it all back together. Good luck with it, sometimes they can be a headache.

[Author]

Posts