88spl lower unit locked up?

[73 Dolphin]

I put my boat on the water after sitting for probably 20 years.
Ran like a beast but carbs leaked when I ran it so I rebuilt and ran them in a barrel, and all was good. I had already rebuilt the water pump and it seemed to be pumping well but I watched a YouTube video and it pointed out that I hadn't used liquid gasket and triple grease so I went and ordered an all new OEM water pump, liquid gasket, triple grease and the Evinrude 847 or whatever its called. Pulling the lower unit it didn't want to drop. I think maybe the pin was still grabbing on the gear shift. Eventually it dropped and I replaced the new generic water pump with the Johnson OEM kit. All the gasket sealants grease and such. I noticed that the gear shift rod wouldn't shift at all with the lower unit off. Completely locked up. It was great. I had just ran and shifted the day before I decided to do the full OEM treatment.
The question is this. Should you be able to just pull on the shift lever to change between F/N/R or does it need the leverage from being connected and the controls??
I'm really concerned that I just trashed my lower by changing the water pump.

 

[Crosbyman]

if you did not mess with the drive shaft it would be a real Murphy day to have caused an issue in the gears ...
why not just close it all up and test with the shift rod in place

 

[racerone]

It takes a bit of effort to overcome the detent.----Try with more force.-----Doubt there is anything wrong.

 

[Chris1956]

You did put new gear oil in it right?

Some models have a small cover in front of the waterpump. Sometimes this aluminum cover corrodes and swells. The shift rod goes thru this cover and the swelling binds the shift rod.

Replacement of the cover fixes the issue. Be sure to get a new gasket, and it should come with the orings that seal the shift rod. Make sure the shift rod is set to the correct height.

 

[73 Dolphin]

if you did not mess with the drive shaft it would be a real Murphy day to have caused an issue in the gears ...
why not just close it all up and test with the shift rod in place

Usually I would but it's in gear and I cant seem to get the shift rod to line up with the pin. I'll wait until I can have someone move the controls while I try to grab the pin. It's in gear because the pin would not let loose when I tried to drop the lower. I moved the control to try to help the pin slide out and it ended up in gear before letting go. Yes I know I should completely remove the carbs to access it better but I had just done a complete carb rebuild and didn't want to risk destroying my gaskets.

 

[73 Dolphin]

I finally managed to engage the pin. It took a few hours an endoscope a pick a screwdriver partial disassembly of the carb and a lot of patience! If it had been out of gear it would have been much easier. No damage done as far as I can tell. Thanks for the replies.

 

[havoc_squad]

I finally managed to engage the pin. It took a few hours an endoscope a pick a screwdriver partial disassembly of the carb and a lot of patience! If it had been out of gear it would have been much easier. No damage done as far as I can tell. Thanks for the replies.

If you set the shift rod height correctly and move the shift arm to the reverse position, it can easily be done with a long pick or long thin Philips screwdriver with only disconnecting the throttle cable and shift cable.

Sometimes you can get it to align even without a pick.

 

[73 Dolphin]

I finally managed to engage the pin. It took a few hours an endoscope a pick a screwdriver partial disassembly of the carb and a lot of patience! If it had been out of gear it would have been much easier. No damage done as far as I can tell. Thanks for the replies

If you set the shift rod height correctly and move the shift arm to the reverse position, it can easily be done with a long pick or long thin Philips screwdriver with only disconnecting the throttle cable and shift cable.

Sometimes you can get it to align even without a pick.

Yes of course. But it was in gear so the shift rod was not in the correct position. I'm sorry I thought I made that clear. I've had it on and off 4 times before. All come good though.