Nissan 6hp 4stroke shift lever replacement

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Brian S

Brian S

.
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Hey, all-

I have a Nissan 6hp 4stroke, and I got it with a broken shift lever. The aft side of the lever is cracked at the bottom of the hole where a remote cable would go. This makes it harder to grab the lever and shift it, and makes it easier for me to pinch myself.

In looking at exploded parts views, I thought it would be easy to remove the screw into the lever shaft, and pull out of motor, and replace.

But when I look at the bugger... The shift lever goes into the side of the shaft housing. DOH!

So, it looks like I would have to remove the powerhead, and hope I have screw access from the top of the shaft housing.

Has anyone done this? Should I attempt to remove the powerhead? Any gotchas?

Or should I try to make up a little mending plate out off SS and screw it into the plastic with some little self-tapping sheet metal screws and call it ghetto?

Thanks,
Brian
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
10,093
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Had a similar problem on a 1968 Johnson 6 that I bought for $50. I screwed and epoxied a lever so I could easily shift.. You can see from the picture that there was a little stub left. I bent a small piece of aluminum tube and fitted it .. Put a little cap on for a finished look.. Same problem powerhead has to come off to replace the shift lever.
 

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Brian S

Brian S

.
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Claude, thanks for the pics.

It's looking like the best option is for me to attempt a Frankenshifter, it's the least work and complications... If that gets me through the season, and I wind up pulling the powerhead next season, so be it.

Thanks!
Brian
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
10,093
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
laughing, Brian.. I have seen Frankenshifters that were simply a pair of ViceGrips clamped onto the nub.. Not elegant, but functional!
 
FourPoints

FourPoints

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Apr 8, 2010
1,606
Frers 33 41426 Westport, CT
I would suggest JB Weld if you're going to try that route. You can build it up a bit as it's fairly thick, and it is a structural epoxy that bonds very well to metal, and sands and paints well when it's cured. You shouldn't have any problems with it breaking off once cured, and you can mold, sand, and paint it to match so it doesn't look too much like a Frankenshifter when done.
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Thanks, FourPoints... I hope that will work on the plastic of my shift lever. I expect it is some form of thermo formed ABS plastic, in which case JB Weld ought to do ok... Oh, no, wait, I'm thinking of Devcon Plastic Welder for the ABS... Anyway, it won't hurt to try gluing on the SS mending plate with some JB Weld...

Brian
 
noanker

noanker

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Oct 3, 2010
130
oday 31 noank
brian....i had the same probem with the same motor. i took it back to the dealer and nissan had him fix it free of charge
 
noanker

noanker

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Oct 3, 2010
130
oday 31 noank
i had the sme problem with tht engine....took it back to the dealer and nissan had him fix it free of charge
 
Brian S

Brian S

.
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
So, your shift lever cracked right on one side of the hole where the remote cable attaches? Unfortunately, I didn't buy this motor new, it came with my boat. The PO said that he thought the original owner must have transported the motor laying on the wrong side, laying down on the shift lever. There isn't a lot of evidence for this, like a scratched lever for example. There are plenty of scratches on the motor cowling, though...

So I wonder if this motor originally had issued with spontaneous cracking of that plastic lever. Certainly the replacement lever I bought seems to me made of different plastic, perhaps a thermoformed plastic, with possibly some fiber reinforcement mixed in...

Brian


noanker said:
i had the sme problem with tht engine....took it back to the dealer and nissan had him fix it free of charge
Click to expand
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,709
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Brian S said:
Hey, all-

I have a Nissan 6hp 4stroke, and I got it with a broken shift lever. The aft side of the lever is cracked at the bottom of the hole where a remote cable would go. This makes it harder to grab the lever and shift it, and makes it easier for me to pinch myself.

In looking at exploded parts views, I thought it would be easy to remove the screw into the lever shaft, and pull out of motor, and replace.

But when I look at the bugger... The shift lever goes into the side of the shaft housing. DOH!

So, it looks like I would have to remove the powerhead, and hope I have screw access from the top of the shaft housing.

Has anyone done this? Should I attempt to remove the powerhead? Any gotchas?

Or should I try to make up a little mending plate out off SS and screw it into the plastic with some little self-tapping sheet metal screws and call it ghetto?

Thanks,
Brian
Click to expand
Just went through this same thing on a customers Mercury 6HP (same engine) power head has to come off. Shift lever is about $22.00 IIRC. It is a poor design...
 
noanker

noanker

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Oct 3, 2010
130
oday 31 noank
what nissan said was it was a poor design and they would most likely issue a recall. i dont know if they did or not. the lever should have been metal....not plastic
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Riiiiight... Metal not plastic = greater expense, therefore, nope!

Sometimes, you look at something and figure, "Hey, that only costs $0.05 more." And then you figure over a 200,000 item production run, that works out to $10,000. And you begin to realize why your stuff breaks all the time, yet the price went up $2.00 from last year...

Wait, am I being cynical again?

Brian
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
I called a local marine mechanic listed on Nissan's website as an authorized service center, and he said there's no recall on it, but that he's sure seen plenty of broken ones. He said he'd charge about $60 to replace it for me, and that with 2 people, you can have one guy hold the powerhead while you get down in and replace the lever, that way you don't have to remove all the wiring. Hmm... I'll have to think about if I want to source the gasket and do it myself, Frankenlever it, or let him do it...

Brian
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Meet Frankenshifter.

I had a bit of stainless strapping, so I made a mending plate. I glued the lever together, and the plate to the lever, with JB Weld. I don't expect the epoxy to hold, because the lever appears to be made of polyethylene, hence the problems with breakage.

Maybe I'll feel like pulling the powerhead this Fall...

Brian
 

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kloudie1

kloudie1

.
Nov 6, 2006
10,093
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Nice job, Brian ! That looks good enough to not be called "Frankenshifter" !!
 
Brian S

Brian S

.
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Thanks, Claude, I got lucky on that one.

I had purchased 2 different rudder gudgeons from Dwyer, with the intention of bending them into a bracket to mount on the trailing edge of the rudder for an uphaul line. (Instead, I just drilled into the fiberglass, like Trinkka (Joe) did.) Anyhoo, each tab had 2 holes in it, for 4 bolts to a transom. So I just cut off one tab, rounded over the cut with a file to match the opposite side, and hoped for the best. Turns out, it was the correct size to make a mending plate!

Brian

kloudie1 said:
Nice job, Brian ! That looks good enough to not be called "Frankenshifter" !!
Click to expand
 
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