Mercruiser wonbt shift correctly

"I have a '76 140 hp mercr

"I have a '76 140 hp mercrusier. I changed tthe water pump now I can't make it shift. I took great care to make sure I had the control and the foot and all in full forward before putting back together. will shift fine from the plate if shifting by hand, but not with the handle. I have tried to adjust it but can only get either forward or reverse but not the sweet spot where I have both. What is the correct way to adjust? Any help would be greatly apericated."

did you remove just the lower?

did you remove just the lower? if so take the friggin thing off and do it over. take the whole drive off this time.

"Scott

"DOWN BOY".

"Scott

"DOWN BOY".

Kelly, you will have to excuse Scott, he has had a heap of these to deal with lately.
If you just removed the bottom of the leg you can garantee you have let the selector slip a spline or two when you have bolted the two back together.
Scott is right, you unfortunatly have stuffed up and need to remove the lower leg again to rectify the problem, but take some advice from the guys who do these all the time and if you have to do a pump, remove the leg complete and do the job on the bench. It will only cost you a few extra bucks for the gasket kit and you can take the oportunity to grease your uni's and check your bellows, gimble and shift key while you are there. believe me it is much easier.

Cheers
Peter C"