TOPIC: Johnson 75hp v4 prop shaft seal

I'm resealing the lower unit on a 1960 Super Seahorse, the kit comes with a lipped seal for the prop shaft (which it needs as the old one is leaky). How does one remove the needle bearing and old seal from the flange?

Disappointing to see that nobody has offered any help with this yet Aku, sorry about that. I don't have the specific knowledge on your 60 model Super Seahorse, but I did recently reseal the lower on one of my 70's X-flow V4's. The prop shaft seals were tough to get out, they are installed with sealant around the outer edge where the seal contacts the housing to prevent leaking there. Once the prop shaft bearing housing was out, I was able to use a prybar type tool to get under one side of the seal and "pop" them out. Care must be taken to not damage the housing the seal rides in, (had a close call with that!).

I'm not sure about the needle bearings, that my require a puller. Mine appeared to be in good condition, so they were cleaned and lubed, left in place. If you can get to them from behind with a punch (drift) and drive them out carefully, that may work but would definitely require replacement of the bearing assy. I would think.

Which style gearcase do you have? According to my service manual, there's two. The one styled like mine has four screws you take out on the bearing head cap and pull it off the prop shaft. Then you can tap out the seal from the front or pry it out with a seal remover.The other older style I know nothing about. A pic of mine(Mine's electric,but it's styled similar to one of them. If you need a pic of a bearing head removed,I should be able to get one.jim

Mine is essentially the same L.U. as the electric shift. With the four-screw outer cover in hand, I don't see enough lip to drive out the old seal from the outside. From the backside, the needle bearing is recessed into the housing tight against the seal. I have a spare unit I've started working on but so far no success. Perhaps heating it on a hot plate?

You can use a seal puller if you take a couple screws with small washers and screw down the head to a board or something that will stay still when you pry on it. The ones I have can be driven out from the front side.No need to heat it.

There were two gearcase heads used. One had an aluminum lip that shielded the rear face of the seal. The other style had that aluminum lip deleted and the seal face is clearly visivle from the outside of the gearcase head. I'm guessing you have the early one with the lip. There was a tool that had internal "fingers" which were inserted behind the bearing shell & then a slide hammer was used to pull the bearing out to access the seal. This is a torrington bearing with a thin retainer case. It is likely that the bearing will be damaged in removal, even with the correct tool. Write down the bearing number before you do anything else. I'm trying to recall, but I think it's a 1618 Torrington. Check to be sure. Probably 10 to 20 bucks new. You can carefully drive the bearing out using a long-nose punch and hammer. Heat the head with a torch till it is good & hot - then drive the bearing and seal out. If you're not comfortable doing it - any decent machine/engine shop can do it for a minimal fee.

Definitely the earlier housing with the lip. I put it on a hot plate at about 300 degrees and was able to drive the bearing out with a punch... not too mangled but I do have a new one on the way. Then I managed to drive the seal out working from the outside using a thin punch on the inner lip of the seal (old style metal one, not sure how the new one will come out in future). Thanks to all for shared knowledge and helpful comments.