Lower unit issue

[Ranger09]

I recently took my lower unit off checking for a leak. I had it in reverse when I removed it. When I put it back together it would not go together. I tried turning the prop but that didn't work. I finally slowly moved the throttle towards neutral and it popped into place. When I took it out it was hard to put into gear. The motor sounded rough, and I couldn't get it up to speed. I killed the motor, restarted it, slammed it forward, stomped on the hot foot and it jumped out of the hole and ran well. It is still hard to shift and dies when I put it in neutral. I have a 2009 225hp yamaha vmax.