1975 40 johnson will not shift

[gunfighter]

I replaced the water pump on my 1975 40 hp electric start johnson, manual shift, in april before my first time out this year. That went well, took about an hour and only needed three hands. Everything worked well after and i felt pretty good about it. Last month I needed to shift into reverse pretty hard,(had a jet ski turn in front of me and stall. Turned helm hard to starboard and reduced throttle shifted to reverse, no shifting occurred. :facepalm: THe shift cable moves freely, the lever on the side of the outboard will move, and the drive shaft looks like it is connected, but it stays in forward. I can manuver around the dock with my trolling motor, but really want to get it shifting again if I can. I think I connected the shift rod improperly, but the sealoc book is not really good at telling me how it should be reconnected. (needs pictures) anyone have any ideas? I am not going to stop using it until it is fixed, but my girlfriend really wants it fixed fast. Any ideas would be useful, thank you

 

[jbjennings]

Re: 1975 40 johnson will not shift

Look under the cover in the leg if it has it, or wherever you have to in order to locate the shift rod connector. Something sounds like it is messed up with the shift rod in the connector. Otherwise, you may have to disassemble the lower unit. If the problem is not in the lower unit, it could be under the powerhead where the bellcrank is located. Basically, hope like heck it's the shift rod connector.
There is a groove in the top of the shift rod, and a bolt hole through the connector. Insert the shift rod into the connector until the groove in the rod matches up with the hole in the connector. Insert the bolt through the hole and screw it in. You're done. The bolt catches on the groove in the rod so that the rod can't slip out of the connector when you pull up on the rod when you shift into forward.
I hope this helps,
JBJ

 

[gunfighter]

Re: 1975 40 johnson will not shift

OK, this weekend I found that the shift lever works, with the cable disconnected and the connecter on th shift rod loosened, so it should not be the bellcrank, the upper half of th shift rod moves. so that seems to leave something in the gear case, what do I look for now? another gearcase? never been into this part of the outboard before, and may wait till fall to fix, but where do I go from here? :facepalm:

 

[jimmbo]

Re: 1975 40 johnson will not shift

When you removed the gearcase to replace the water pump you had to disconnect the shift rod. When you reinstalled the gearcase there is a chance you didn't get the connection of the upper and lower shift rods quite right, or perhaps you forgot to reconnect it.

 

[gunfighter]

Re: 1975 40 johnson will not shift

First go oilers, been a while since I went to edmonton. THe shift rod is connected, but I am going to loosen the connector and make sure I have it on properly, It shifted for a few times after the change, until I got knocked onto the control box b a wake I did not see, That drum was on the wrong side of the boat and got me off balance