No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

[Walt43]

I have an '87 Wellcraft with Mercruiser 3.0 with Alpha I outdrive, and I recently had to replace numerous parts in the upper unit and gimbal housing. I also replaced the lower unit water pump as well, along with the lower shift cable. Outdrive was installed according to service manual, and I thought all was ok. For the first time I fired it up today. I noticed right away that it wouldn't shift into forward, only reverse, and after in reverse I wasn't able to put it into neutral. I did the 'put the shift cable all the way forward, and turn the prop clockwise' thing, and the prop locked into place. When I put the cable all the back and turned the prop CCW it didn't lock, but I heard a metallic pinging sound from inside the lower unit as the prop turned. This was with the lower shift cable disconnected from the upper linkage and doing it by hand. Shift cable slid back and forth with no issue whatsoever.

Did I miss a step when reassembling everything, or is something wrong with the lower unit? It seemed to work fine before everything was taken apart last year....Thanks.

 

[Bondo]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

Did I miss a step when reassembling everything, or is something wrong with the lower unit?

Ayuh,.... Donno....

Did you test, by hand at the various steps of assembley, whether it shifted properly,..??
If so,... When did it Quit working,..??

Did you have/ hold everything in Forward gear during the final assembley,..??

 

[Walt43]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

I could have sworn I did - unfortunately it was about 2 months ago and now I'm not 100% sure. I'm assuming that by your answer I need to pull the outdrive and follow the procedures step-by-step again to make sure?

 

[Fishermark]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

One possibility is that you forgot the washer under the shift shaft. It is a common problem and easy to do. It doesn't allow the shift shaft to engage fully in the "shoe". Normally it is far enough away so it doesn't work at all... but maybe your's is just far enough to catch a little. You will need to look and see. Is the shift shaft fully seated up in the shoe? If not, you will need to remove the lower and install the washer. Other than that....

 

[Bondo]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

I need to pull the outdrive and follow the procedures step-by-step again to make sure?

Ayuh,...

I use a Bungee Cord from the cav-plate, around the propshaft,+ back to the plate, to Tension the gears,+ hold it in Forward....

 

[Walt43]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

One possibility is that you forgot the washer under the shift shaft. It is a common problem and easy to do. It doesn't allow the shift shaft to engage fully in the "shoe". Normally it is far enough away so it doesn't work at all... but maybe your's is just far enough to catch a little. You will need to look and see. Is the shift shaft fully seated up in the shoe? If not, you will need to remove the lower and install the washer. Other than that....

I'll check for that washer - once again, I could have sworn I installed it, but since I'm taking it all apart again I can double-check....

thanks for the tip Bond-o - I'll give it a shot and check back in....

 

[Walt43]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

After taking everything apart and testing the lower unit, it operated fine. (The washer was in place) For fun I attempted moving the shift cable and watched the shift shaft from underneath the upper unit, and it was only moving when going into reverse! I would have to manually push the shaft back into position, which meant I installed the shift slide incorrectly! I pulled the upper unit off the bell housing, and I found that the shift slide had overextended into the bell housing, thus making it inoperable. I don't know if this happened when installing the outdrive or when I was adjusting the new shift cable. Either way, I put everything back together yesterday, and today I adjusted the shift cable and tested her out. Everything seemed to shift just fine now. What a pain!! Well, thanks everyone for your suggestions!

 

[Fishermark]

Re: No Forward gear after reinstalling outdrive

They make a tool to hold the shift slide in place when installing the outdrive.... I've never used it, but have always thought it would make life easier.

Glad you found the problem!