Shifted to reverse at a high speed

[Pdickens76]

Hello everybody. I am new to the forum but have been reading several post since I recently purchased a 81' McKee Craft with a 40hp Mariner. I am not real sure of the 40's age but I believe it's somewhere in the 80's model. My problem is today while out fishing my throttle linkage connector broke and the throttle got hung. When I went to shift to neutral I went past it and hit reverse. The reverse locking mechanism doesn't work and I had a wire holding the outboard so I could reverse. Well when reverse engaged the motor came out of the water breaking the wire and slammed hard on the transom mount. The motor cut off and once I manually moved the throttle on the engine it started back up. Now it will go in forward but not reverse. Once I got it home and after reading some post I tried manually shifting and spinning the propeller. It spins in forward and ratchets the other way with the shifter in forward and neutral but in reverse the propeller spins freely both ways. Would this be a shift linkage problem or lower unit issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a little mechanically inclined but nothing major.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welcome aboard. My guess is you shattered the reverse gear

 

[Pdickens76]

Thanks Scott. Looks like I'll be down for a while.

 

[jimmbo]

. Now it will go in forward but not reverse. Once I got it home and after reading some post I tried manually shifting and spinning the propeller. It spins in forward and ratchets the other way with the shifter in forward and neutral but in reverse the propeller spins freely both ways. Would this be a shift linkage problem or lower unit issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a little mechanically inclined but nothing major.

Sounds like you have forward in forward and Neutral, but neutral doesn't happen until you shift to what is supposed to be reverse? Right now that sounds like a linkage or cable issue, but...
I suggest you unhook the shift control cable at the engine and see if you have full shifting action at the engine, and also check the movement of the cables when the control box is operated unhooked

 

[Pdickens76]

That's sounds right jimmbo. I have forward and neutral and where reverse is supposed to be on the shifter its actually reverse. I have the cables unhooked and I'll put on the mufffs and try to shift manually and see what happens. I'll post some pics a little later I have another issue that I noticed as well.

 

[Pdickens76]

I meant where reverse is on the shifter it's actually neutral.

 

[flyingscott]

Drain the lower unit and see if anything comes out.

 

[jimmbo]

That's sounds right jimmbo. I have forward and neutral and where reverse is supposed to be on the shifter its actually reverse.

Now it sounds like everything is fine?

 

[Pdickens76]

No im still having the same problem. Even when I manually shift on the engine I still have no reverse. I'll post a few pics. I'm thinking the shifting linkage is either broke or bent. I haven't pulled the prop shaft yet but hoping nothing is damaged there.

 

[Pdickens76]

No Title

 

[jimmbo]

Well you have a bent and dislocated shift shaft(thin greasy shiny shaft) and two busted/unsecured upper engine engine mount(2 larger horizontal rods) bolts and/or fitting and the midsection itself. There is no way you are able to shift the engine, To repair, the power head, lower cowl, engine to midsection adapter, will all have to be removed to gain access to the damaged parts so see if repair can even be done

 

[Pdickens76]

Thanks again jimmbo. Yeah when I saw the engine mount bolts and the angle of the engine i knew something wasn't right. I've been looking at these manual diagrams at marineengine.com but I'm a little confused about where the rest of the engine mount parts go in relation to the mounting bolts. Are they on the inside of the driveshaft housing or between the housing and the swivel mount? The engine is a Mariner 40hp serial # 6E9 424085. When I look up my serial number with the two zeroes added in front of the number it pulls up the 40hp but there isn't a link to the mounting system. I've been looking at the 40C motor and it has the mounting system link. I know the nut is on the inside of the housing but I'm not sure about the other parts.

 

[Pdickens76]

I see the parts on the diagram for my serial number. The website I was looking on is listed below.