Okay, so just for some backstory: When I had everything together, but the gears were backwards, I took it out on the lake to see how it would do. With the shifter in Reverse, it would go forward. I took off, and it was running great. Idled good, got up to speed and stayed there. Reverse also worked well too, with the shifter in the F position. Now, as I was cruising along, the motor suddenly revved high, and I lost my propulsion. I quickly slowed down when this happened. Reverse was still working, and if I put the shifter on R to go forwards, it seemed fine, but there seemed to be a point where as I slowly increased the throttle and speed, it would reach a point where the motor would start revving up, but not give propulsion, almost as if the gears were slipping once the engine reached higher RPMs or something. It almost sounded like cavitation, but I know it wasn't. I had to to go very slow all the way back to the landing. I understand that the shift shaft and drive shaft are separate, just informing you because in order to determine what gear I am in when I turn the shift shaft when the lower end is removed, I turn the drive shaft to determine which way the prop is spinning, and subsequently, what gear I am in. It just seems like everything is perfectly backwards. I am not able to find a "2nd neutral" beyond the one it is in. It only seems to shift to R and F to either side of the existing neutral it is in, and I am met with a hard stop when I try to turn the shift shaft beyond Reverse of Forward. Did I possibly do any damage when I was out on the lake and I had issues? The driveshaft looks good, no chewed gears, so I am confused what caused my issue of not being able to deliver the power to the prop..... I have tried that Texas Mark, but when I put the Spindle shaft in Forward gear, and my shifter on the motor in forward gear, and then put everything back together, it won't shift out of Forward. It is as if it is stuck just in that gear.
This is driving me bonkers, and again, I appreciate your help.
