1981 Johnson 35 Reassembled Lower Unit but not shifting to forward

Hello, I actually took 3 similar vintage 35 HP Johnsons and Evinrude over the winter to make 2 good motors out of the 3. Unfortunately, after putting the lower units together and back on, they seem to not want to shift into forward. Disconnected they will shift between neutral and reverse just fine, but pulling up on shift rods, they just don't want to shift into forward. Is there a common issue here, there must be. Hoping to take them apart again and retackle

If that doesn't work they go to someone for assembly somewhere in Minnesota so if you know of anyone around who would be willing to do it reasonably, please let me know.

Thanks Mark

The shift rod height has to be set correctly. You'll have search and find the proper height for your model(s) and you can easily make a tool to check the adjustment.

Dangar Marine has a pretty good video showing how to use a home made tool for the adjustment. I'd prefer the bolt to be at a bit more a right angle and more secure, but it works okay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufy6W9EI1cg

The procedure for this 1981 35 hp is not the same as setting shift rod height on bigger motors !!