LU , grimlins

[Nickledimed]

1983 Thunder Craft 160 SS Magnum
Boat Serial # TCT15100M83K
1983 115 Mercury serial # 6412179

Bought the correct water pump for the sn# but the diameter of the pump base is slightly larger than the orifice it is suposed to seat into.
any advice, is welcome...are these lu interchangable?
If so how would I go about finding out which one I have?
becouse this is driving me nuts!!!
And I cant get the thing on the lake w/o a water pump

 

[Nickledimed]

Re: LU , grimlins

ok, I took the pump base down and had it turned...it fits now.
now I got the pump installed.
now, I made sure that the shift lever is in nutral, and the prop turns freely, meaning that its in neutral also.
I stab the shaft, easy, I get the water tube lined up...easy, I get the shift shaft slined up and the LU slips into forward...wtf?
Remove LU and its still in forward, put LU in neutral again, stab it all and the damn thing slips into forward again...grr, I do this about 5 times.....what the heck is going on?
any Ideas?...Im about to take this pos to a shop!

 

[bullbat]

Re: LU , grimlins

well put ur control box in foward gear and the foot in foward and slide the foot in then

 

[Nickledimed]

Re: LU , grimlins

I tried that..the thing is no matter what I do I can stab the thing with everything in neutral, when I put the lever in fwd the lu goes into forward, but when I put the lever back in neutral the lu stays in forward.

 

[bullbat]

Re: LU , grimlins

i dont know what to tell ya ive naver had a problem with mine doin that are you tryin to do this alone or is someone helping you?

 

[Starppy]

Re: LU , grimlins

Something's wrong there. The first thing I would do is verify the shift shaft is actually roating properly. With the LU off I wuold have someone in the boat move the control from F to N to R and back again and then watch or feel the shaft on the outboard move. If it doesn't move back and forth correctly then there is a problem with the linkage

The other thing I would check (and this is a common mistake by the way) is that the shift pin on the LU is actually lined up properly. They can be over rotated. Verify the proper position for F, N and R. The entire range is no more than a 1/3 turn. Then try the install again. Also check that the tilt lock cam is installed in the correct position.

What happens sometimes is that the tilt lock pin and cam make contact before the shift pin and shaft are seated. The tilt lock pin pushes on the cam, rotating the shift pin and kicks it out of alignment.

They can be a real pain in the transom.

 

[Laddies]

Re: LU , grimlins

Your problem is that with age the shift cam and pin in the unit have worn a little and because fwd gear is default it keeps jumping it gear. All of this is quite normal for a unit with hours on it, the only way to reinstall the unit easily it to put the unit and gear shift into reverse gear it's a common problem and we always use reverse gear for assembly as it costs money for 2 men to mess with it.

 

[Nickledimed]

Re: LU , grimlins

ok here is what I found.
With the LU in neutral it doesnt take much for it to slip into forward or reverse.
If you put the LU in forward or reverse you will notice that there is alot of play between the stop and neutral.
This is why the LU should be in neutral.
Now what I did was I put the LU in neutral and the lever in neutral.
I took a sharpie and looked at the splines on the LU and marked the most forward part of the spline tooth.
Then I went to the shift shaft and marked were that tooth would fit when the LU is installed.
I took a strap and used it to pull the LU up while I directed everything together.
I found that the splines were lining up but were just beeing stuborn.
I wiggled the LU and the splines snapped into the shift shaft.
I then took a flash lite and checked to make sure my marks were lined up.
I went ahead and wrenched the LU up with the strap and checked that the prop would turn, I put the shifter in foward, prop would rachet clock wise, stop counter clock wise, did just the opposite in reverse.
put it back in neutral.
Prop spins freely.
Bolted the LU up and now good to go.
Thanks
Hope this help someone.