Re: Merc 850 Shift shaft
With the shift shaft positioned so the lower unit is in Neutral, place the control box in Neutral.
Now, the shift shaft and upper shift rod should be aligned to go back together.
With the L/U in Neutral, you won't be able to spin the prop to get the driveshaft to engage the crankshaft splines, while you're installing the lower unit.
So, you'll need to turn the flywheel clockwise while pushing upwards on the lower unit, as you turn the flywheel the driveshaft & crankshaft splines will align themselves and you can complete bolt-up.
Note that sometimes, even though you've got control lever and L/U in the same gear (or Neutral), the shift shaft doesn't quite align with the shift rod, on the way up.
This is usually due to a bit of tension or pre-load on the control cable, which you normally need to get the controls to work properly.
If you have that problem, you'll have to undo the control cables and manually "jiggle" the shift arm at the powerhead, until the shift shaft lines up. Before undoing the shift cable, note the approximate position of the shift arm and once the shift cable is disconnected, move the shifting arm only just a wee bit forward/backwards from that position until the shift shaft is engaged. Usually it's just a half-spline off but that's enough to keep it from going in!
Or maybe you'll get lucky and it'll go together like a hot knife thru butter. Sometimes you get lucky, other times not so much!
HTH & G'luck.........ed
p.s. be sure to shift the control box back to Fwd before lowering the motor down on the tilt pin. If you lower the motor while in Neutral, the shift lock hooks won't properly engage the tilt pin, it'll be hard to shift, and the motor will kick up in Reverse. Not fun!
