No Forward or Reverse

[Coolbreeze135]

Hello,
Im trying to diagnose a prob. with my 92 Force 150 Ser # 027577 Mod. 1508X92C.
May father had the boat on a trip to the lake and spun the prop. He consulted a boat shop and the sold him a new plastic hub and told him to tighten the prop nut while the shift lever was in in forward. He then put the boat back in the lake and now has no forward or reverse gear. I checked it and can see that the shift lever cables moves the shift shaft ok with no binding or effort. With the shift lever in Forward the prop will lock however with out much effort will make a hard click noise and you can turn it one click at a time and will turn the opposite way going a click at a time as well. The motor runs fine and while running the prop while in neutral works fine. You can shift in forward and reverse and the prop will start to turn with no noise and but you cant feel that thump like normal.

So Im lost now wondering did he break something in the lower unit by tightening it that way?.

Thanks to everyone in here for any input.

 

[john from md]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

In order to keep the prop from turning while you tighten the prop nut it is common to put the engine in gear. It is possible to damage the lower but you would have to be really cranking on that nut.

It may well be that your adjustments were border line and just decided to go over the line at this time.

You need to adjust the cable and you will need a manual to do it with. Both the Clymer and Seloc manuals have the procedures to adjust the cable.

John

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

John
thanks for the reply I kind of thought that may be the case as well. I have been noticing lately that the boat seem to not shift into netrual as easy as it used to you kind of have to bump the shift lever a
little to get it.
I do have a seloc online manual for the motor but I didn't see a shift cable adjustment procedure for it.

 

[john from md]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

I stand corrected, it is not in the Seloc manual. :redface:

The procedure goes like this.

1.Disconnect the shift link rod at the lower gearbox by removing the cotter pin.
2. While turning the prop clockwise, push the shift lever either up or down, which ever way it will go, until it stops.
3. Mark a line on the shift rod with a pencil level with the lower housing.
4. Rotate the prop counter clockwise while moving the rod opposite the direction you went the first time.
5. Make a line on the shift rod the same as before.
6. Bring the rod all the way up and make a line in the middle of the two lines.
7. Adjust your shift cable by turning the connector in the engine compartment until the shift rod middle mark is even with the lower housing while the shift lever is in the neutral position.
8. Tighten the lock nut on the cable and connect the shift rod to its link with the cotter key.
9. Go out and try it. When you shift, you should always shift firmly into gear and it should go in with a "Thunk". If you try to do slow smooth shift, you will wear out your shift dog gears in no time at all.
10. Go have fun with the boat.

John

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

John,
Thanks soooo much im going to give it a whirl. Im set for a fishing trip to lake Fork Texas in 2 weeks so im stressing thinking this lower unit is busted. I will report back on this.

Thanks again
Mark

 

[john from md]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

Go for it!

John

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

John
I don't know what's up with this thing but after removing that pin on the shift rod the prop just wouldn't lock in either way felt like it did but you can still turn It seems like one spline at a time.

Tried adjusting the shift cable no deal the prop just won't lock right. Strange because after a bit of adjustment in the shift cable I cranked it up and reverse seemed fine but no matter what I did still no forward gear. Even when I had reverse it just wasn't thumping into gear. Any thoughts on where to go from here ? I hate to go trying to pull the prop shaft out since I really dont even have the special tools that prob. takes..

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

John
I don't know what's up with this thing but after removing that pin on the shift rod the prop just wouldn't lock in either way felt like it did but you can still turn It seems like one spline at a time.

Tried adjusting the shift cable no deal the prop just won't lock right. Strange because after a bit of adjustment in the shift cable I cranked it up and reverse seemed fine but no matter what I did still no forward gear. Even when I had reverse it just wasn't thumping into gear. Any thoughts on where to go from here ?

 

[john from md]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

Unfortunately it sounds like your dog gears need replacing. That requires disassembly of the lower end. It is not a bad job but it will put you out of the water for a while. You can do it on the engine or take the lower off and work on it in the house. Parts are readily availble from numerous suppliers, mercruiser.com, dougrussle.com, iboats.com and others. I would check ebay first as you get some good deals there.

Off course if money was not an issue, you can buy a whole new lower for 400 to 600 bucks. They are sold on ebay as well as all over the net.

Sorry I couldn't give you better news.

John

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

John,
On the contrary, you have certainly been a wealth of knowledge and that puts me closer to a solution. I think at this point sounds like I would be better off just going for a new lower since time is a prob for me. Thanks for all of your help.

Mark

 

[Coolbreeze135]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

Just out of curiosity, if I choose to tackle this with the lower still on, I am assuming you would pull the prop shaft and be replacing those gears. If thats the case do you know if you need special tools or can it be done by good shade tree mechanic ?

 

[Banditz]

Re: No Forward or Reverse

You can do it yourself. I did a write up on it, read that if you wanna see if you can do it or not. Search treads done by me.