1961 Fastwin Wont Shift

[berninga87]

1961 Fastwin 18hp. Was shifting fine yesterday while running in a barrel. Got it out today and the lever was stiff. Pulled lower unit and lower shift rod moves a little bit feels stuck. It came out of reverse when I wiggled it but fell right back in. Can't get it into fwd. Suggestions?

Thanks, Adam

 

[F_R]

Are you rotating the shaft as you try to shift it? (Or running it)?

 

[berninga87]

I would turn the prop as I was trying to get it to shift. I didn't try turning the drive shaft. When the lower unit was on I did try turning the motor over and shifting but it didn't make a difference.

 

[berninga87]

Tried turning the drive shaft and shifting this time. Didn't really seem to help. I was thinking about putting the lower unit back on and running the motor to see if it shifts right then, but I'm afraid if something is wrong in the gears it could damage them. It was shifting fine when I ran if the day before this happened and shifted with the motor running or not.

 

[oldboat1]

Did you do anything to the l.u.? Drain and replace oil? Doesn't sound like you were servicing the l.u., but if you took the Phillips screw out by mistake, that may be a source of problems.

The gearcase needs oil to function correctly. Additionally, there is not much movement in the lower rod when manually shifting gears by pulling on the rod -- should operate smoothly, though. It sounds like it drops back into reverse OK. Is the rod perfectly straight, or did it somehow get bent (i.e., binding)?

 

[berninga87]

I had put oil in it originally when I got the motor, there was none in it and it hadn't been run in years. After I ran it the first time on the water I changed the oil out to hopefully clean it out some and it was still working after that. I didn't do anything with the phillips screw, just the two slotted screws for oil drain/fill.

The rod seems straight and moves freely. I'm just not getting the prop to spin free at mid travel and it seems to want to be stuck in reverse. I did run it for some time in neutral in a barrel while tuning the carb. I did not shift it during that time and I have not checked the LU oil since. I will check the oil again tonight and maybe just put it back together and run it to see if it will shift while running. Only other issue I see with that is getting the shift rod adjusted correctly if I can't get it in neutral, but I suppose I can set it in reverse and go from there.

It all just seems very odd to me that it was working fine and just isn't now.

 

[oldboat1]

You might pull of the prop and look for fishing line wound around (more maintenance than related to the issues you describe). Replace the cotter pin if it's rusted.

The link for the upper and lower shift rods can be tricky. The screw or bolt has to be removed and the machined grooves in the rod end fully in place, with the bolt slipped through the groove. Sometimes the rod end can be partially inserted, and the brass connector clamped down -- won't hold, and will change rod length in the meantime. Failure to connect properly will give poor shifting -- maybe could cause binding in some cases.