Goofed big time, removed pivot screw when changing lower end oil. Help!

[HMC49]

Well I goofed big time. I think I removed the the pivot screw from the shift mechanism. Now when I put it into gear, forward or reverse, I hear a slight clank/grinding. How bad did I screw up and what can I do to fix it. I'm guessing I'm gonna have to take it to a mechanic and have the lower end torn apart. Also I can turn the prop by hand when its in gear and I'm pretty sure that's a bad thing.

 

[Jiggz]

Re: Goofed big time, removed pivot screw when changing lower end oil. Help!

With the pivot screw off, gear will not shift and can actually cause more damage if you keep running that engine. If you are not mechanically incline you'd be better off taking it to a mechanic. If you are mechanically good and have a lot of patience, you can try putting it back together. At the minimum it will require dropping the lower unit, drain oil, removing the water impeller housing and base plate just to see the shift mechanism. Depending how far off it has been off you can try with wires and scribes to align the holes of the shifter to the pivot screw. If a mech does this it will charge a lot because he will actually try to disassemble the entire lower unit.

 

[BobList]

Re: Goofed big time, removed pivot screw when changing lower end oil. Help!

Look at Frank's sticky on lower unit removal, it's great. Then do a search under my name, I posted a topic a coupla weeks ago, I did the same thing. I was able to come up with a trick to reinstall the shift yoke and pin without tearing the propshaft and stuff apart. But ya gotta have patience, man.
BobList

 

[HMC49]

Re: Goofed big time, removed pivot screw when changing lower end oil. Help!

Looks like I'm gonna take it to a boat mechanic. I'm not really confident in my ability to not screw anything else up. Plus while changing my battery, I noticed a wire from the bilge pump was not attached. When I hooked it up, it started pumping with out any water in the bilge so I'll have them look at that as well. Thanks for the help and suggestions.