Broken drive

"some friends and I were out

"some friends and I were out boating in Green bay this weekend, my buddies 1984 5.7l alpha 1 drive all of a sudden free spun this was of course at wide open throttle trimmed out, after he very quickly pulled back the throttle and slowed the boat down it stalled . it will re start and runs ok but as soon as you try to put it in gear ( f or r) it stalls instantly, there is no noise and wasn't when it broke either, with the transom shift cable disconnected it seems as though there is no detent between gears and also seems as though it isn't engaging in gear fully it locks in one direction depending on which way you have it shifted and ratchets in the other direction... any one know what commonly brakes in these drives?"

"Well, where would you like th

"Well, where would you like the list of thing's that can and will break to start?
The way the prop moves is normal. Try to turn the prop in either direction and see if it will turn the drive. You need to see what the oil looks like in the lower unit.
Then see if you can turn the engine over.
Use a breaker bar on the crankshaft and move the crank forward and back VERY EASY and check for movement in the drive.
This will take two people to do.
If the engine will not turn at all(no movement not even a 1/8 inch)it may have locked.
At that point you need to remove the out drive and see if it is the engine or the drive that is locked.
It sounds like either the engine coupler has failed or the lower drive shaft has broken.
If the coupler or drive shaft failed the engine should still turn over and run.
If you get it running make sure the water pump is working. If either the coupler or drive shaft have failed there will no water getting to the engine.
No, the hose will not push the water into the engine."

"Thanks for the info Not me, I

"Thanks for the info Not me, I pulled the upper cover off tonight , the upper gear set is very very junk, (no gear lube) I have now two more questions: how do get the gear ratio, can metal get in the lower from the upper and mess that up also, if so how does one clean the lower out? ? again thanks for the info"

Gear ratio is 1:5 and yes junk

Gear ratio is 1:5 and yes junk is in the lower. It should be disassembled and cleaned.