'60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

[timmeraw]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

I am at my whit's end(especially in this 90 humid weather). I replaced the impeller yet again and bolted it back up(actually had it off and on 5 times now) and can't get anything but forward gear. There is a click when approaching Neutral but that is only the tilt lock engaging. I have tried just about every position imaginable with the lower shift linkage and still no luck. I fear I may have bent the upper shift rod when one time it was not lined up right and I drove it up into the bottom of the carb. After lowering the foot I managed to get it banged back down and appears to be turning fine with no apparent bending etc.

Is there no neutral lockout or whatever to prevent starting in gear? When I first put it back together it started in gear and when running emptied half the water out of the
large can. Maybe that has something to do with my gear issues. I was able to manually turn the lower shift rod when off and find all three gears so I figure the lower unit is ok.
Any tips would be welcomed greatly.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[coolguy147]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

make sure the top gear is in place the right way.

then align them the bottom gear.

maybe r motor r different?

counter clockwise will turn in neutral if in foward one mroe notch that way it will be in reverse.

the top gear and bottom have to be flush

when shift the prop has to turn as your shifting when the lower unit is off

got a picture ill try to check out my manuel again give me a pciture of your lower gear and upper gear for the shift rod hopely its the same as mine i believe

 

[timmeraw]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

If you look on the first page of this thread in the pictures I posted you can see the lower shift rod and assembly. It is obviously now cleaned up etc and the top piece of the assembly(basically the same as the bottom one you see) is not in the picture.

I think I have it figured out just now thinking about it and will give it a try later today.

It either forward or reverse ..the shift rod will turn 3/4 of a revolution. In N it does not turn. So at either end of spectrum is F and R. As the rod can turn 3/4 of a revolution there are two possible positions for the upper/lower reverse locking cams(having to fit two opposing extended groves into the knotches in the bottom of the exhaust section.) this will allow basically a 1/4 turn past the gear( both F and R).....IF and only IF you have the cam assembly turned to align as close to N as possible. When...as in my case I now theorize, you align it as far counter clockwise (for F) as it will go...it will be in F to start and then the shift rod will have to turn too far(3/4 revolution) before hitting N which by then your upper shift arm will be extended or turned all the way to the end at reverse end but not being able to turn far enough to engage it.
Now the only whole in my theory is that my drive shaft is in F so I begin at forward. It does turn a long way before I would assume is N because the tilt lock does engage BUT...the prop does not spin freely but is still in F. Now maybe it hasn't even been able to turn far enough to engage N by starting orientated too far(1/2 rotation too far on the assembly.

I hope I am right and will let you know shortly.
Update...NOPE ..still only FWD.

 

[coolguy147]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

yup when u get to numbers like that it aint looking good for me


ill check my paper

 

[timmeraw]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

Boy am I getting good at removing and installing the lower unit on this motor.....however that doesn't make it any fun because I cannot get the gears to shift properly....or at all for that matter.

Latest try...I dropped it again....using a pair of channel-lock pliers I rotated the lower shift rod and found Neutral and what I thought next in the same rotation would be R seemed to be back in F?? In any case after some playing with it I found R(where prop wouldn't spin in either direction). So I placed the cams back on and the upper one was not quite lined up with the slots so I fed it into the slot first and then insterted the lower cam/rod etc in figuring that maybe it was designed to slightly push up on the tilt lock when in R. I bolted it back up ensuring the manual shift arm was in R and crossed my fingers. It won't move out of R....
Now having read that because of a spring in the gears...F is easiest to engage but as you move towards R it gets harder because of the spring.....Maybe I am not getting enough leverage by hand and should hook up the controls? I am just afraid to force it if that is not the case?

 

[timmeraw]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

Ok I finally found these Factory instructions for connecting the lower unit:
The Factory RecommendedWay To Install A Lower Unit:

Remove both the throttle and shift cables from engine, make sure the shift lever is in full forward gear. Now, turning the lower shiftshaft clockwisw until it stops. Now take the lower and upper shift cams, put a good gob of grease between them and make it messy. Do you see those two square keyways that are purpendicular to each other? They fit in the tower housing notches, make sure when you install them the they are "parallel" with the two front studs, or that if the unit was put up, those keyways wouls slide right up into the tower housing. After seeing the upper cam properly lined up and sitting on the lower cam. I now install the upper cam into the tower housing using gobs of grease again to hold it in place. You are now ready to install the lower unit to the tower housing. Line up the lower unit with the tower the way it will go up, now as you line the studs up, make sure you get that water tube in its place. You now may have to take your fingers and ease the upper shiftshaft to the lower shiftshaft, once you determine the two shafts are in place, you might need to move the shift lever just a tad to get the splines to couple, move it all the way forward first, this should get it. Now turn the propeller shaft to engage the crankshaft splines to the driveshaft (The last two steps might have to be reversed, sometimes the driveshaft will engage before the shaftshaft) Once you are sure both splines are engaged, start a nut on one of the studs to hold the enit up, then try shifting it, if everything went the way the book sez, it should be shifting right! If not, then you either missed the splines by a tooth, or didn't engage at all, or the upper shiftshaft indeed has a twist in it and it would either have to be replaced (strongly recommended) or heated and untwisted.

BUT...to no avail. I am working on a Merc 300 and replaced the impeller. Now it is in forward and I followed the instructions above and when I manually move the shift lever from forward toward N it clicks (hear and feel it....which is only engaging the tilt lock) but it does not go into Neutral and then easily slides all the way to stop at Reverse with no pressure or changing any gears.

I fear that my upper shift rod may be bent or twisted because on one reconnect it was binding and I figured out that the two rods did not mate and it pushed the upper rod up against the bottom of the carb and was stuck there until I pried it back down again. It is obviously engaging because it is turning enough to engage the tilt lock...just not enough to change gears.

If this is the problem what kind of a job is it to remove the upper shift rod?...let alone find a replacement for a 50 year old engine?

Arrg!

 

[timmeraw]

Re: '60 Merc 300 Awakening - No SPARK

Ok I figured it out(with the help of a Merc Mechanic I knew a long while ago). It appears that with all the changing of gears manually in the lower unit I was past FWD on the wrong side?(between forward and reverse with too much play as you said) I found the right position and got back to forward and kept the cam as close to N as possible and she shifts fine now. And the even better news....after all this work what started it was changing the impeller and it is pumping water great now.

Now to fix the issue with my control box as after I took it apart in an effort to free up the stick ignition/key switch ....it is not engaging the throttle cable properly. It is pretty complicated but like everything else...if I play with it enough and take it apart and put back together sooner or later I'll figure it out. In the mean time I need to take it for a lake run so I'll just run the throttle by hand while my little first mate drives the whaler on it's maiden(to us) after-restore voyage.

Thanks,
Tim