Suzuki DT4 (1985) shift rod placement

[sjessa]

when changing the impeller on my motor i regrettably pulled out the shift rod from the gearcase, now i can't get it back (down) in place. It's sort of stuck 3 mm "to high" in the hole. tried fiddling around quite a bit with it but nothing seems to help about it.
Are there any tricks to to this , or would i need to pick apart the gearcase itself to fit the shift rod?

Thanks for any insights!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Suzuki DT4 (1985) shift rod placement

typically the prop shaft has to be removed to reinsert the shift shaft.