56 Johnson 10 - lower unit shift rod

[twocyclemania]

After sitting for many years I finally tackled a QD17 that had shifting problems. I tuned it over the winter and it's up and running. I opened the lower unit and nothing appears broken. This is my first working on a lower unit as I usually find it easier to swap out a complete unit. The best I've been able to decipher is the lower shift rod is off a little. If I move it (probably less than a quarter inch) I'm able to have it hit forward, reverse and neutral as it should. Question is: Is a (slightly) bent lower shift rod a common occurrence and what could have caused it? I intend to bend it slightly to get her to shift as she should. Other than that I can't find anything wrong. Any input on this is appreciated.

 

[boobie]

You could have some problems in your upper shift linkage.

 

[twocyclemania]

From what I'm familiar with; the upper shift rod and the linkage connector seem to be okay. It appears to shift and move as it should. Let me know if there's anything for me to check. As for the lower shift linkage: If you push the rod a slight bit (away from the prop end) everything lines up and the shifting is where it should be. What I'm describing is from inside the gear case. Gears and everything look good. Looks like it's just a bit off but I wonder how that happened. I'm going to give it a slight bend and as far as I can see this should solve the shift problem. thanks

 

[F_R]

You can't tell anything about what you are describing with the skeg off the gearcase, because the pivot pin is not in place. It would be VERY rare for the shift rod to be bent. The shifter fork sometimes gets bent by some cretin really, really forcing it. But that's rare too.

What exactly are you trying to fix, anyway? Is it jumping out of gear or banging? That is caused by worn clutch dog and gear. And that could have been caused by improper or worn shift linkage. On the opposite, a worn dog/jumping can damage the linkage. Kind of like which came first.

 

[kbait]

Should be a clutch dog cradle between fork and dog..

 

[twocyclemania]

The motor would shift into forward or reverse but not neutral. When I removed the skeg I found that I could find neural by an ever so slight movement rearward of the shift lever. Since there is no adjustment I gave the shift linkage a slight 'tweak' and when I put the skeg back on everything seems to be okay. Once again, it did not really take much. That shift linkage is very tough and when I say I bent it; it was not perceptible to me but it did the trick. I can put it in the test tank before I do the reseal job for a quick check. Any suggestions. Right now it seems to be doing what it should.