Inline shift shaft alignment

[ZmOz]

Still trying to get this horrible peice of machinery on the back of my boat put together. I took off the lower unit of my '74 inline 6 about 6 months ago, and I have no idea what gear it is in. I've got the lower unit back on, and now I need to figure out what posistion to put the shift shaft in.<br /><br />Two things:<br />How do I know what gear the LU is currently in?<br />And when I find that out, where should the arm on the shift shaft be in relation to that gear?

 

[2cycle]

Re: Inline shift shaft alignment

Hello,<br /><br />Re: determining the LU gear, in FWD the prop shaft should not turn counterclockwise. In neutral it will spin freely either way. In reverse the prop shaft should rotate 1/3 turn in either direction.<br /><br />Re: the second part, I think you could drop it while in neutral and then mate it up with the throttle lever also in neutral if it's not already lined up correctly. Also I think you can shift the LU by hand with it dropped by pushing or pulling the shift rod. Hope this helps..

 

[2cycle]

Re: Inline shift shaft alignment

Hello,<br /><br />Re: determining the LU gear, in FWD the prop shaft should not turn counterclockwise. In neutral it will spin freely either way. In reverse the prop shaft should rotate 1/3 turn in either direction.<br /><br />Re: the second part, I think you could drop it while in neutral and then mate it up with the throttle lever also in neutral if it's not already lined up correctly. Also I think you can shift the LU by hand with it dropped by pushing or pulling the shift rod. Hope this helps..

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Inline shift shaft alignment

But couldn't it be only partially in gear, and feel like it's all the way in gear by hand? For example, when I bought it, the shift cable was out of adjustment. On land, in reverse, as far as I could tell it was in gear. In the water I could see it wasn't completely in gear. <br /><br />Can I just turn the shift shaft all the way one way or the other? Or will it just keep spinning all the way around?

 

[2cycle]

Re: Inline shift shaft alignment

ZmOz,<br /><br />I'm not really sure about it being partially in gear - I know that it will "pop" or "click" in a pronounced way when putting it into gear with the LU off. Maybe someone else will chime in.<br />I think Clams is back on the board now so maybe he or someone else can help further. He is actually rebuilding my 150 as I write this as he has now moved down here to SC..

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Inline shift shaft alignment

ZmOz, Those inlines will click into and stay in all three gear positions. It is best if you put them into the correct gear when the LU is off, but since you have it together, do you have the ability to pull the shift rod up to disengage it from the gearcase? If so, rotate the shift lever clockwise (from above) until the gearcase is in forward, as described by 2Cycle. Now put the control into forward, and install the shift rod so it matches the shift cable.