Ok, 85 hp evinrude from my previous post has bad forward gear dogs and the corresponding clutch dogs. Iam collecting used lower units now and am going to pick up a 'nother whole boat/motor assy. Sunday just to get my john boat going again. So...I am obsessed with all this for the moment. To carry it a step further , I now have the idea of tigging some kind of special rod on the rounded dogs and either expertly or crudely machining them back down since I am not gonna buy a new gear set and 73 85 hp gears seem to be odd. I know others must have had this idea, others much smarter than me. I need input and some experiences with others on this potential procedure. Are the gears too hard, would it ruin the heat treating, Would the case explode while trolling for sandbass ?? I am going to carry a spare lower unit there with the life jackets, I think. OK, any input, almost, is welcome, Thanks

I tried rewelding the clutch dogs on my 120 HP I/O Mercruiser just for the heck of it. It did not work as I did not re-temper the dogs and they instantly rounded off. I did not have a heliarc unit at the time so I stick welded the rounded portion of the dogs and then ground down the excess weld material. My suggestion to you is to heliarc or stick weld on some high tensil steel rods, such as 7018 or higher, to the rounded off dogs and then grind them to shape. Then heat and temper the whole piece. Tempering and retempering is a whole new ball of wax for me and I can only tell you that you can get it too brittle if cooled too fast or too soon. Marbravo

Ok, thanks. One machine shop is willing to look and see if they think is is feasable. I also have a brother in law who I haven't asked yet, that is a heat treating pro. I know sometimes old timers can fire just the needed portion of something and know just how to quench them. I will be experimenting with other year gears, too. See, I think gearsets new are way too expensive for the motor in question what with your pump and seal kit, set up issues etc. Your "instantly" rounded comment is not what I wanted to hear, sorry that happened to you, Marbravo. Thanks, Larry

HA !!! Guess what, I found a pot luck one on ebay for 50 and no shipping....I picked it up local......AND it is my year, AND the clutch and gears are ok when I wrenched it apart to look.....What are the odds !!! Seal kit and water pump kit are less than 100 and I'll be back to hitting rocks in the river !!! Ya----hoo