Way2slow

I have to laugh at some of the things you want to get away from, lifting, straining etc. Depending on the boat and trailer, if you decide to go that route, there are times you may be doing more on something even heavier, especially if you fish by yourself. There are times when conditions are not right, you will loose all your religion getting a boat positioned properly on the trailer. Even the best of drive on trailers can have problems under certain conditions, like a fairly steep ramp or a very shallow ramp. Then, if you fish rivers or areas with a current, that can create another set of problems trying to get it positioned on the trailer, and a lot of the tin cans and trailers under them I've seen are not the best for driving on in the first place.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1984-Johnson-2hp-Outboard-Motor-Boat-Motor-OMC-Evinrude-/121798247658?hash=item1c5bbdc4ea:g:k94AAOSw0HVWDtVB&vxp=mtr http://www.ebay.com/itm/1999-Johnson-2-HP-Outboard-2-Stroke-Boat-Motor-Runs-great-/281844485484?hash=item419f3d8d6c:g:CckAAOSwT5tWNSx~&vxp=mtr

Don't blame you on the two stroke. For the size, weight and power of a two stroke vs four stroke, I would also. Those small motors in the newer models can be hard to come by. Every time someone sees my little 4hp merc, I get asked if I want to sell it. You can find the very old ones, 60's etc, but even those bring a premium price if they run. I paid $750 for my Merc new in 1996/7 and have been offered $650 for it several times.

Deleted text.

I didn't think it was that hard. I have a transmission jack I used to hold it (just the transfer case, didn't pull trans), taking it out and putting it back in, if not for that, it might take two people so it doesn't fall off the jack and bust the case. The awkward shape makes it hard to handle. I did a couple hundred dollars in parts while I had it apart, new chain, some new bushings and a few other parts. Basically a good refreshing. I could have easily done it in one day if I had the parts, but waited until I had it tore down to see exactly what I wanted to replace and then ordered them, so it was about a week.

If it's 4WD, keep and eye on the transfer case. They are notorious for the pump kicking some buffer shims out and the ears on the pump beating a small hole at the top near the rear. It makes a small leak you usually don't notice but over time, you start running it without oil in it and pretty much destroys all moving parts. If it's black from old oil from the top down at the rear housing, if you cleaned it up, you would probably find a small hole. I pulled mine and installed an upgrade to prevent that. It's basically another transfer case if it burns it up from no oil, another $1,000.

Reminds me of those people that think you can disconnect a battery cable to see if their alternator is working. If it wasn't bad, good chance it is after pulling that trick. Very good way to blow the regulator in one. As for gas mileage, 12.8 is the best I've seen out of my 2001, 6.0, 4WD 2500HD with 4:10 gears. 10 towing my boat. I just got back from a few days on Clarks Hill. Getting there and a couple trips to the ramp from the farm house (my parents old house) was 152.8 miles, 15.8gallons to fill it up for the trip back home.

I guess this post did not belong, deleted it.

Connecting and disconnecting a battery charger or jumper cables to the cranking battery can create a spark with a couple hundred volts EMF potential and yes, it can damage an ECM or Rec/Reg. You may do it 100 times with no problems, but after 101, you wonder why your motor won't start, or why the reg/rec no longer charging the battery or tac is no longer working. That switch should work just fine for a battery disconnect. You only have to disconnect one cable, not both like you are doing.

The kill switch, if separate from the key, and ignition switch ground out the power pack to turn the engine off. With their CDI ignition, the battery is only to spin the starter, it's not needed to start the motor. Get it running, and you can throw the battery away. That's why when people are having running issues with an OMC (other than ficht, I laugh to myself when people suggest a bad battery could be the cause.

Years ago I learned the remote alarm ain't always a good thing. When I got my son his first car in high school, we installed on of those body jarring sound system the kids luv to have. I also installed a security system with the RF remote alarm they claimed would work for up to a mile away. He was at a friends that lived in a large apartment complex and his alarm remote went off. He started running to his car, three guys were trying to steal the sound system, with the car alarm siren sounding away. He hollered at them as he was running toward them, and one of them shot at him. Luckily, they were not much shoots than the were thief's. They jumped in a vehicle and took off and other than a broken window and some interior damage, things were fine. However we decided it would be better that had gotten the system than him got shot, so we did away with the remote. We figured if they were brazen enough to continue trying to steal it with the siren sounding, they were brazen enough to do what the needed to keep from not getting it. If you want the remote alarm, have your Glock in hand and aimed if you have to respond to it.

I would be careful trying something like that, other than just water to flush it. If you use some kind of cleaner or chemical, it could be corrosive to the aluminum over the long term, especially in a area that tends to stay wet or damp anyway. Definitely don't put anything with chlorine in it.

That's why I also say, if you can't work on them yourself, try to buy newest thing you can, with the longest warrantee and the best insurance you can get, take good care of it and sell it, (don't trade it) and buy a new one when the warranty runs out. They are just way to flipping expensive to have repaired now. I tell my wife every time I make a trip to the parts store, it's about to get too expensive for me to even buy the parts for fix them myself now, and that's getting the parts wholesale and not having to pay todays ridiculous labor charges. I recently bought a Ford Explorer for my granddaughter with a bad engine, thinking I was going to have it running for about $500. I did have it running, but it was $1,100 later.

Looks like most on here fit right in my income bracket. I have to buy used junk and make something out of it. My Javelin R20DC with 225 ficht I bought at auction probably 10 or more years ago with a lot of the motor sitting in the storage compartments, for $5,000. At the time it would have been a $15,000 $18,000 boat had it been running. I spent approx. $1,100 fixing it and have been using it trouble free since. My pickups I buy the same way. The one I'm driving now is a 2001 4WD Silverado 2500HD I bought for $1,000 with excellent body and interior. It had be sitting in a field near San Antonio TX for eight years and I had it shipped to GA. I spent $2,500 on shipping, fixing everything and new tires so now I have a nice truck worth about $8,000 for $3,500. I sold my 1998 4WD pickup for more than I paid for it about 10 years ago, I bought the same way. Pretty much the only thing I buy new in the way of boats, motors, and vehicles is my wife's car. She gets a new Toyota Highlander about every four to five years. However, ya'll have to remember, there's a lot of people out there that can spend thousands of dollar as quick as we spend $10 and think nothing of it. There is a guy I used to fish with sometimes that traded for a new Stratos 201 every three years and went by the Chevy dealer and traded for a new pickup that matched it. He's been doing that for close to 20 years now. Other than in about 2000, he got a 21SS, and traded it the next year because he didn't like it. I could go in debt up to my ears and buy all this new, high dollar stuff like boats and vehicles, but I'm kinda old fashion in that, I like for my money to be mine, and not give over half of it away each month in interest, so if I can't pay cash for it, I wait until I can. Been doing that about 40 years now, and kinda like that way.

You can not even begin to compare his Tracker 175 to your Lowe 16 and the speeds it should see in relation to yours. Ever heard the old expression, comparing apples to oranges. His boat is several hundred pounds heavier, plus the large hull is going to create a lot more drag. He's already said he's running three TM batteries, and with the way he has gone with everything else, I would guess he's probably running one heavy a** 80# TM on the bow. Then the weight of the power poles etc. That's like comparing a plow horse to a quarter horse when it comes to speed. Simply put, he has a lot of boat for a 20hp motor, and if it's a four stroke, that even makes things worse. He built himself a nice fishing platform, just sucks he had to restrict it to a 20hp motor to be able to use it where he fishes. My suggestion would be to contact Bob Lipton, Performance Propellers in St Charles MO (636) 949-3121. If there is anyone in this country that can help you, this guy is a master in tuning props. A 20hp is probably not something he usually does but he might be able to help you. They can take 10 pitch SS props and take some of the pitch out, doubt he can take 2" out but he might be able to put something together that would add some giddy up go to it.

Not much has been done in the way of props for the old sheer pin motors. There are only a few pitch sizes available and they are probably not moch different in design than the ones available then. As for legal, yes you can change to any type prop you want.

I don't have a clue what the boat should run, but I can say, the first thing you need is what was suggested, make sure the throttle is going fully open, and possibly the motor tested to make sure it's making full power. If it is, and you are currently running a 10" pitch prop, that prop is either damaged or way too much. The motors current rpm says you need an eight inch pitch, if they even make one that small for that motor. I don't know what kind of weight you are running but from the looks of the way it's rigged and how much the motor is struggling to get going, you are pretty darn heavy. If the motor is making full power, I don't think you will see near the speeds the other poster is getting but a better prop will get it up and going a whole lot better. Also,, make sure you use a stainless prop. It definily make a difference.

OK, after second thought, I'm a south GA redneck and keep forgetting there are other parts of the country, but I've never had a problem here and can't have never heard of anyone having a problem with condensation in plastic tanks in my neck of the woods, maybe further north where ya'll have much colder climates it might be a problem. Back in the 60's when I got my first boat, it had those six gallon metal cans and I just kept them in the garage. I've had one boat that had an aluminum, built in tank, and it stayed under a shelter, never had a problem with it. I'm a whole lot more concerned about having old gas than. Years back, and OMC engineer that was also and instructor and the factory training school in Atlanta also said it was better to pump the gas out, that's why I started doing that years ago, and leave them dry than have the old gas in them. While I don't, never have, and never will use Staybil because I put my faith in SeaFoam, I still don't put faith in either of them keeping gas good enough to run in my outboard motor after a long sitting spell. Even though, back when I was playing GI Joe in the Air Force in mobile units, we always added SeaFoam to anything running on gas or diesel when we parked it back on the yard. The government claimed it would keep gas and diesel good for one year. My concern it not the gas breaking down as much as it loosing octane. Gas can loose octane fairly quickly. So, while ya'll that do it, keep filling them up, I will keep pumping mine out, because as I stated, I've never seen a condensation problem, but I've seen tons of problems from bad gas. If there is no fuel in the tank to get cold and cause it to condensate, there is no problem. Condensation forms from rapid changes in them, and empty tank is going to come a lot closer to changing temps with the environment.

Not really. When you go back into them, make sure those little micro size holes in the venture on each side of the throttle plate are clean. Take the low speed jet out verify the size number on it and clean it good with a tooth pick, Use brake cleaner or carb cleaner with the plastic stem and blow through the passage in the carb and blow it out with compressed air several times. Make sure you get a good spray out of each of those holes with crab/brake cleaner. With the jets out, a welding tip cleaner can be use to clean the passages. Do the same thing with the mid range and high speed jet. Here's a link that might help you some. http://epc.brp.com/Index.aspx?lang=E&s1=679b8d09-6aef-4815-9690-08ac441c8d5e click the arrow in the pull down, select Johnson then your year, then model and then carbs It changed, you have to click on view parts catalog first. You don't want to put your email, or you will get piles of junk email

I would suggest ordering one of those cheap tach's off ebay you just wrap the pickup around and plug wire and compare it's reading to yours. I've seen props get an edge rolled on them that can drop the rpm but not the speed.

Not trying to question his abilities, but just because he put a kit in the carbs does not mean they were properly cleaned. I've been doing them many years and very experienced with carbs and there has been more than once when I've had to go back into one a second time. Some of the orifices in those are fairly small and it only takes one two thousandths of obstruction to cause all kinds of head aches. Just taking one apart and cleaning it up a little don't always get it. All the jets have to be taken out and cleaned with a tooth pick (you should never use a metal item to clean a jet because it damage the orifice or open it up more) If they have those disk covers over port access points, most people tend to leave them alone, me included because they can be a royal pain, but sometimes they have to come off the get them clean. A long welding tip cleaner and compressed air are your best friends for cleaning one. If it's a metal carb, it needs to be soaked in some hydro seal carb cleaner. The bog he is getting is crabs about 95% of the time. The low speed or mid speed orifices have some obstruction them. I have also worked on carbs that someone else did and put jets back in the wrong spot.

First, check the compression with engine warmed up. If I remember right, those carbs are fixed orifice. To adjust them requires changing jets. Proper cleaning is critical so I would question the rebuild on the carbs because that would be my next action. The power packs on those motors are not that reliable when they get some age on them so that would be my next point of attention, but I think it'[s most likely the carbs.

Not sure how you would even go about trying to lube the cable.

Every three years is my routine. If you run it a lot, by then it starts getting fatigued, is you let it mostly sit, by then it starts to harden and develop a memory so it doesn't flex out firmly into the larger cavity. A used motor that's several years old, one of the first things I do after buying it is replace the impeller. As mentioned, with all this cheap crap we get today, I always stick with the OEM. Cost a little more, but I've never had one of those to fail on a motor that has been maintained. I figure if I can buy a motor 10 to 15 years old that still has the original impeller in it, I can trust the new one to last three years.

Wasn't referring to the rust part. The plastic does not build the condensation the metal tanks do. An easy way to test this is feel the outside of a plastic tank about half hour after the sun has been on the boat after a very cool night. That gas/air in the tank will be cold from the night, the compartment will be warm from the sun. Feeling of the tank will let you see if there is condensation or not and how much. Also, the temp change is not as fast and drastic at night where the inside of the tank is warm and the outside is getting colder and that's when the inside of the tank would condensate if it was going to. Because of the insulating affect of the plastic, there is not an instant heat transfer like there is with metal.