lower unit wont go into gear

[ryanalaska1990]

okay heres the storie. i have had a 85 90hp inline 6 mercury for the last year. i ended up finding a really good deal on a identical one(not sure of the exact year) but all of the parts are the same. the lower unit on it was locked up when i got it so i took the old one off and put my spare unit on it and got it running nicely. but after hooking everything up i realized that the lower unit is not going in to gear. i tried everything. i checked the shaft to make sure it is turning and it is,but it isnt turning that much 1/8th of a turn 1 way and , it is lined up and everything checks out.

any ideas on whats going on here?

thanks in advance

-Ryan

 

[Chris1956]

Re: lower unit wont go into gear

It is stuck in neutral? Can you shift it manually at the engine. Remove the shift cable and pull the shift slide forward. The prop will not ratchet when turned CW. If it cgoes into gear manually, perhaps the shift cable or control is bad.

 

[ryanalaska1990]

Re: lower unit wont go into gear

i have not tried to do it manually but i will try that tomorrow. i know it isnt the lower unit because i shifted it into FWD manually before i put the unit on the boat as i normally do becase these units have a tendancy to go into forward when dropped so when we put them back on we put the control box in fwd aswell as the lower unit and everything always goes nicly. im not sure whhats going on with it but i gotta figure it out sooon! fishin i startin to pick up

 

[Chris1956]

Re: lower unit wont go into gear

I have never had any luck installing the gearcase in forward. The shift shafts always ended up out of synch. I always install gearcase while it and control are in neutral.