Shift shaft issue from shift tube

[BillBoost37]

Working on the 1988 Sea Ray 16' Seville with mercury 100 OB. In restoring this puppy, I was working the throttle/shifter and noticed it was hard to move. Looking the OB over I noticed that the shift rod leaves the powerhead in about the center of the shift tube. At the lower unit the rod appears to be against the backside of the shift tube.

My thought is this is causing pressure on the shift rod and binding it a bit. Popped off the lower motor mount cover and I don't see that the mount is the issue. Although I have no idea how the mount should look, I'm well versed mechanically (mostly cars) and don't see how these lower mounts would cause the shaft to be on the back of the tube. I'd think if the mount was mushy the shaft would end up on the front (boat side) of the tube.

Looking for your thoughts and advice. Overall the boat is pristine original but literally just sat and deteriorated in areas. I do know that for about 13 years the motor sat trimmed down.

 

[Watermann]

Shifting the motor when it's not running makes it tougher since the gears have to be forced into alignment by the shifter rather than everything meshing while running and moving. Try having someone turn the prop for you while shifting to see if that's the issue. Just be sure to have the kill lanyard pulled so no accidents happen.

If this makes no difference then disconnect the shifter cable from the motor end and see if the stiffness remains the same when shifting.

 

[BillBoost37]

Thanks for the response. I should have mentioned that I confirmed the cables are free and moving well. I tested with the motor running, off etc and it's always super stiff.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... This is a Merc Outboard problem, I'll move it to that forum for ya,.......

 

[BillBoost37]

Thanks for the move.. Anyone have any ideas of things to check besides the 28 year old hydraulic fluid?

Yes, I am doing that today. It's past its prime for sure.

 

[BillBoost37]

Some follow up for those that may search and say "ok Bill... so did this ever get fixed and...HOW?"

Drained and replaced the lower unit lube. Let that sit for a couple of days while I was working on fuel lines etc and fired it up last night. Let it run in forward at about 1800 rpm for a bit. Then paused well at neutral and it slid into reverse a lot easier than ever before. Ran it for about 20 minutes and it felt so much better I am checking it off my to do list. I will change out the lube at least one more time as I'm sure it cleaned/picked up the sediment that was likely causing my issue.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, you didn't change the gear oil for 28 years. It should be changed 1/year. I recommend you play the lottery, as you are real lucky...

 

[BillBoost37]

I didn't buy the boat new. I bought it for $100 after it sat for most of those years. I'm the guy that's going through giving it the TLC it should have had and getting it back where it belongs, on the water. :joyous: