I am new here and was hoping you guys could help me out. I have a 97 50 hp Yamaha C50TLRW 2 stroke. I knew I needed a new impeller so I dropped the lower unit and when I pressure tested it I saw it was leaking by the shift shaft so I ordered a water pump kit and shift shaft seal and plastic plate and o ring. When I was taking the plate off the shift shaft came out with it. It is the rod that is splined on both ends and I can see the hole it goes in but it doesn’t feel like it is engaging anything. I did mark where the spline was before I pulled it out. I figured something got moved so I re mounted my lower unit tonight and my thoughts were correct it’s in gear all the time no neutral. I did have the motor in reverse when I took the lower unit off originally. I took the lower off again tonight and took my water pump off and took out my bearing carrier and prop shaft. Do I need to take off the pinion gear and forward gear to line the shift linkage up some how? Or is there any other way I can get my shift shaft back to reverse without taking the gears out. I knew I didn’t want to touch the shift shaft and now I know why lol. If any of you can give me some advice to get the shift cam or whatever linkage back to where I need it I would greatly appreciate it. I don’t see much information on shift shaft dilemmas like mine. Thanks again