Logo
FULL SITE MENU

86 Mercury 50hp hard shift into reverse

I

imhuntsm

New member
Hey guys I have an 86 mercury 50 hp that sometimes will be hard to shift into reverse. I have found that it will go into forward with no problem, but it will be difficult to shift into reverse. Once I do shift it into reverse, it will return to acting the way it should shifting into forward and reverse with the same ease. Wondering why it becomes difficult to shift into reverse only some of the times. Thanks
 
Are you doing this with the motor running , yes or no ?------------You can shift from nuetral to forward all day long no problem.------But you should not shift from nuetral to reverse without the motor running or the propshaft turned by hand !
 
I did it with the motor not running. Didn't realize you shouldn't do that. Why is that?

I took it out today and it seemed to work fine
 
I'm curious about this. I was having a hard time shifting into reverse with the motor running and I had a chipped shift cam. Wondering if maybe that's how it got chipped
 
Probably. I'm dealing with a 20 hp (Merc 200) with the same problem. I can rotate the prop in reverse about half a turn each way before it catches. Should be far less than that.

Jeff
 
Simple , the clutch dog is engaged by spring pressure when going into forward.----If dogs on gear and clutch are not lined up it does not matter.-------But going into reverse it is a mechanical connection and if dogs are not lined up you put extra load on control box and cable.-----That is why you need to have either the motor running or someone turning the propshaft.---------On other motors it is simply bad to try and shift into forward and reverse without the motor running.---That is just the way it is !!
 
Back
Top