mercury 4hp gnat meltdown

[patrick1982]

Hi all and thanks for having a look, I've a 4hp gnat 2 cylinder outboard and I've recently changed the impeller and for the life of me I cannot put back on the lower leg unit, and have it in gear. The gear shift shaft goes down the hole on the impeller housing and it won't go in and out of gear once it's put back together. It's stuck in gear. I can't understand it, I've put it in and out of the housing hole hoping something will just click but no. What's the nack to getting it in and having it go in to forward and back into neutral. There is no reverse on this outboard. She's an old girl

 

[Chinewalker]

If I recall, the shift rod simply slides into the gear case. The shift rod engages a tang off the propshaft clutch spring that engages or disengages forward gear. If the spring isn't catching the shift rod, it won't release it's grip on the propshaft to get into neutral.

Is the motor running when you're testing this or are you bench testing it? If you're trying to spin the prop by hand, it may not feel like it's disengaged. Any chance the end of the shift rod has been damaged or the tip worn?

 

[patrick1982]

Oh dear, I took off the prop to see could I see into the gears and I found a spring, it was looses and I pulled it out, it's about 3 inches long, very thing Spring. Is it goosed??