Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

[rstier]

Hi,
I had to do my two year impeller change yesterday and for some reason I can not get the whole gear shift and alignment to play nice. After 2 hours and a sore back, I abandoned ship.

I have the shifter in forward and I have turned the lower shift shaft clockwise to engage the prop in a right hand propulsion (forward). When trying to get the lower housing reattached to the upper housing, I am not having any luck. It will only go up so far but will not fully seat. The one time I did get it aligned and bolted, the prop would no longer turn in any direction. I don't remember it ever being this hard. Maybe I am forgetting a step? Do I need to turn the upper shift shaft as well? Also, is there supposed to be a gasket or sealer between the upper and lower housing?

Thanks in advance for your replies!
Ron

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

There is no gasket between the upper and lower, but there is a "quad ring" - it is a rubber o-ring that seals the oil passage. Regarding your other problem - not sure - someone else may be able to chime in.

 

[stevieray]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

The one time I did get it aligned and bolted, the prop would no longer turn in any direction.

Assuming Gen 1? If not, disregard - I've never worked on a Gen II.

Did you put it in fwd before disassembly? That has to be done.

Did you try shifting gears when you got it back together? If everything is back together right you should be able to shift out of fwd to N to rev easily - prop should only spin freely in N.

Any difficulty reassembling is usually the shift shaft splines not re-engaging properly.

Do you have the manual? If not, I can post a link.

 

[rstier]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

Thanks for the reply on the gasket.

As far as the drive removal goes, I think I had it in Neutral when I removed the drive which is probably the issue. What would be the workaround now?

If you have a link to the manual that would be great. It is Generation I.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

If you removed it in neutral, (the entire drive), then you will need to examine what damage was done to the shift shaft coupler....
If you just removed the lower gearcase, then you need to put the helm in fwd, turn the shiftshaft cw & the prop ccw to fully engage it in gear....
If you are referring to the entire drive, you need to put the helm in fwd & see what is happening @ the shift shaft coupler....
It should be pointing directly foreward, if not, you bent something....
Here is a link for your drive......
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf​

 

[stevieray]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

Here's the manual:

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

Go to the Service Manual Outline page & click on the topic you want to see - it will take a few seconds for it to load up.

Put your throttle lever into fwd & the upper shift shaft will turn to where it should have been before you took it apart (I think the pin that goes thru the upper bushing points straight forward at this point). That should get you lined back up.

 

[stevieray]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

Haut - I thought he just had dropped the lower gearcase & the upper was still on the boat. Glad you covered the other scenario.

 

[rstier]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

Hi,
Thankfully, I only removed the lower housing/unit. So if I understand you guys right, I should do the following:
1-Put the helm shifter lever in forward
2-Then turn the shiftshaft cw & the prop ccw to fully engage it in gear

To clarify #2. The shiftshaft you are referring to is the little shift shaft sticking up in the lower housing correct? I assume the piece it fits into in the upper housing is controlled by the shifter lever and should be all set once I am in forward at the helm?

If that is true, I think the step I was missing was to rotate the prop ccw to engage it.

Thanks to all for the help including the useful links!
Ron

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

Since you had it in neutral when removed, you probably bent the intermediate shift shaft. This part:

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Help!-Alpha One-Reattaching lower to upper housing

I guess we were posting at the same time. If you only removed the lower unit, and not the entire outdrive, then you did not bend anything when removing it.