1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

[cobaltboats]

I changed the water pump in lower unit. Re-installed lower unit. Hooked up shift cable linkage and forward gear seems to work fine, but I cannot get the shifter in reverse at all. I disconnected the cable completely from the engine and I believe it is in the shifter at the steering console. Forward back to neutral works over and over, but something is stopping it from even thinking about reverse. With the cable disconnected from the engine, the outdrive forward seem to work fine manually by flipping the lever on the motor. This boat is on a trailer in my garage currently. I have read if the shift rod gets turned on alot of these engines it will change the lenght, but I'm not sure it is an issue because the cable disconnected. It seems the mechanism in the shifter itself is the cause. Any thoughts would be very helpful, thanks.

 

[Will Bark]

Re: 1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

Have you tried turning the prop while moving shifter to reverse? clutch dog ears may not be lining up to let it go into reverse. Others will chime in but I have read that if you disconnect the shift cable at the motor and set it(the shifter) in neutral and then set throttle cable on console in neutral; t5hen, without moving shifter reconnect the cable; it should work. If not others will chime in. Good luck

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: 1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

Cobalt, were you trying to shift with the engine running or turned off? I'm guessing it wasn't running, in which case Will nailed it. Depending on how the clutch dog happens to be lined up in relation to the gears you might or might not be able to shift without the engine running.

As for adjusting the shifter cable, the only part that Will left out (though I'm sure it was implied) was adjusting the trunnion knob to make the cable end line up with the stud on the shifter linkage.


There's a small chance something more sinister is going on, for instance if someone decided to rotate the shifter rod several turns while the lower unit was off you'd have problems.

 

[cobaltboats]

Re: 1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

The engine was off when trying to shift. I understand what you telling me, but with the shifter cable disconnected from the engine, shouldn't the shifter cable from the control box still go into reverse? I will try again tonight.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: 1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

Yes, with the shifter cable disconnected at the engine you should be able to move it in both directions with the control box. This just became a problem when the lower unit was pulled to service the water pump, correct? A stupid question - is it possible you have the throttle and shifter cables mixed up?

 

[cobaltboats]

Re: 1977 Envinrude 75 won't shift into reverse

I disassembled the shifter control box and I learned that underneath the shifter plate (located inside the control box) I found a plastic piece that has grooves for the location of the shifter. The plate jumped a tooth or a space which was causing the issue. I found nothing broken, but I wonder if this was caused when I moved the shifter cable back a forth between forward and reverse when I was trying to learn how to drop the lower unit. I am adapted to the mercruiser drives where you have to move the shifter to forward or reverse to drop the lower unit. At any rate it is fixed and appears to be perfect. Its going to be cold but I plan on briefly water testing it this weekend. Thanks for the help.