Re: Wont go into gear
The other end of the shift shaft has a cam on it to cause the clutch dog (on the prop shaft) to move back and forth. The clutch dog sits between or is caused to move into the F and R gears which locks the prop shaft into the respective rotation by the indirect action of the shift shaft and the cam it sticks into.
The shift shaft is splined on the top (for the shift lever to operate it and the bottom where it inserts into the shift cam (in the lower unit oil filled cavity; right in front of the F gear/bearing assy).
If you can freely turn the shift shaft 360 degrees, which is what you indicated, you must have accidentally pulled the shift shaft out of the shift clutch and it can no longer function. There is supposed to be a clip under the shaft retainer (under the water pump) to keep the shaft from coming out till you remove the retainer.
Anyway , if that is what you did, you might try to restab it in the clutch if it hasn't moved. Tricky job since you not only are trying to find the center of it, but also trying to line up the splines.....also, there is spring pressure on it from the clutch dog shift spring, so it may be pushed forward where you can't get the shaft to line up with the hole in the cam.
If you can't do that, you will have to gut your gearbox to reconnect it as the clutch is at the very front of the gearbox. Very tricky process; not in disassembling the gearbox, but in reassembly as you have shims to line up in the driveshaft/propshaft and gear interface, and other problems that a professional, with the right tools and instruments should do for you. My opinion and I do 99% of my own work.
Course while he's in there he can go ahead and install new seals on all your shafts.
Wish you luck.
Mark
