Need help reinstalling lower unit

[aswilber]

I am new to the forum and have a question regarding my outboard. I have been following Sherm's water pump replacement directions from BassBoatCentral Tech Tips and everything was going great until it came time to reinstall the lower unit. I followed his advice for rotating the shift coupler clockwise while rotating the propeller counter-clockwise to put the lower unit in forward gear. After getting the splines of both the shifter cable and the drive shaft lined up in their respective places, I put the control box back in neutral but the prop would not spin freely like it should. ( The motor is a '99 Mercury 60hp two stroke.)

I don't know what to do now??? I have taken it apart and tried to reinstall the lower unit over 20 times with no luck.

I notice that while trying to put the lower unit in forward gear by rotating the shift shaft and propeller, I am unable to continue rotating the prop counterclockwise without having it stop abruptly. This may have something to do with the problem, but I am not sure.

I am sorry for the long post, but I am frustrated as all he!! and dont know what else to try.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Derric]

Re: Need help reinstalling lower unit

Well, you are gonna have to leave it in neutral and now on the lower unit where the shift cable slides over the little shaft with the splines. You will now have to turn that to the left when it stops mark it then turn to the right when it stops mark it. Now, somewhere in the the middle of those 2 marks should be neutral. You'll know when its in neutral when prop shaft spins freely. Install that water tube into the upper unit first and take a block tap it few times make sure it is all the way in and the bend is going the right way. look up there with flashlight make sure no obstructions and be able to move your flywheel left or right to line up splines. This takes 2 people so put lower unit in make sure water tube goes into pump and shift cable like up on shift shaft while installing lower unit if it stops try moving flywheel if prop shaft turns then you are in just need to tap on front bottom part of lower unit should slide in enough to put your bolts and washers on and just tighten bolts evenly from there. Good Luck!