1985 Johnson 70 Won't Shift Into Gear

[scrampbell]

I bought this engine with a boat recently and the seller had it professionally maintained whenever something went wrong. He says it went into gear the last time he took it out over a year ago. He claims to have started it regularly over the past year (and I believe him) but never tried putting it into gear during those sessions.

What are my steps for pinpointing the issue? Could this be a matter of just adjusting the bolt on the shaft that runs down into the lower unit?

Thanks!

 

[scrampbell]

Re: 1985 Johnson 70 Won't Shift Into Gear

It just needed to be worked a little bit... I guess it had kind of seized over the past year and a half of non-use.

I disconnected the shifter cable at the engine that ran to the controls at the helm and just worked it back and forth manually at the engine until it went into gear (I turned the prop when I thought it was in gear and listened for the engine to cycle). Then I reconnected the control cables and worked it back and forth with the controls at the helm. I'll be testing this boat out in the water tomorrow!