Need Help Removing Lower End From Standard Cobra

Here's where I'm at (outdrive is still attached to boat):

1. Lowered outdrive and drained oil.
2. Raised outdrive to full up position and removed the mount bolts.
3. Without much effort, the lower unit separated about 5/8" from the upper, then stopped.
4. With a pair of pliers, I attempted to rotate the shift shaft to port to disengage the shifter pin.
5. Lower unit will not drop down any more even after wiggling it side to side and rocking it front to back a bit.

I don't want to force anything and cause something to break. I have read the manual and it says nothing about this problem. The lower unit slides back up okay but just will not drop down.

This is the first time taking any kind of lower unit off. I need some help. Thanks.

you have to remove the whole drive from the boat - the lower won't come off by itself like a Merc.

you'll see why when you take the drive off and look at the shift lever

If that's true about the drive being removed first, the manual I'm using is wrong. It clearly states the lower can be removed on the boat, as long as the shift rod is rotated to the port side of the boat.

Does the shift rod that's attached to the lower unit rotate using pliers? Or is it fixed?

Does the fork on the end of the shift rod have to be removed to drop the lower unit?

Hi, You asked for help and Hystat gave you the right answer. You have to remove the entire drive first.

Thanks for the replies. I'm following the manual (Seloc) and apparently it is not correct on this procedure.

I'll pull the outdrive.

On my Cobra at the lower rear of the upper housing are (4) horizontal slots, (2) on each side. What are these slot for? They are not in the diagrams in the manual. Wasps have built a large nest in there and I need to get it out.

After doing a search, I found one reference to those slots (on some they are holes). They were called "water discharge" holes.

As for the manual I'm using (one gets what they pay for), the section on lower unit removal (and a couple other sections, too) must have been proof-read on a Friday afternoon at around 4:00 PM.

Just to answer your question about the shift rod. Yes it can be turned, that's how the height is adjusted by raising and lowering it. Very difficult to do with the upper and lower together as it is probably binding on the bellcrank. As stated above it's always best to remove the entire drive plus once removed you can do other maintenance checks for the gimbal bearing and u-joints and drive shaft bellows.

The boat I'm working on is a cheap project boat. I'm using it as a learning tool for a better boat I don't want to screw up. I already had the drive off in the last month or so to do the service you suggested.

I need to pull it again anyway because I'm going to remove the engine and have a new transom installed. It will give me a chance to recheck the alignment to see if anything has changed in a month (and two trips to the lake).

Just getting a frame of reference and some experience. Thanks for the feedback.

I pulled the outdrive. It came off easily (not like the first time when the engine was out of alignment and the spline had hardened grease on it).

I now see why the outdrive has to be removed to drop the lower end. The shift fork has a groove that fits over a pin (not the shift pin on the bellcrank) to guide it vertically during shifting. That would make it near impossible to rotate to the port side, as the "manual" says. Sometimes the book is wrong.

With the outdrive off, and the shift fork rotated out of the way, the lower end came apart easily. I left the upper unit on the hoist and just jacked it off the lower end.

One thing that surprised me was all the water that came out when I separated the units. Where did that come from??

I removed the two big wasps nests and found out the water discharge slots are only for draining water from the passage thru which the ram bolt passes, in case any water leaks in around the ram bolt.

Each unit, upper or lower, by itself is not very heavy. When I reassemble the units, I plan on having the upper unit upside-down on a table and then set the lower unit back in place. I think there will be more control over lining things up that way.