Need help-shift linkage

[rbarclay]

I could use all the help I can get. Not being mechanical at all, I decided to change the water pump in my 2003 Mercury 40hp 3 cylinder. I felt like everything went fine until I had to reconnect the shift linkage. I screwed the nut from the lower unit all the way down and then screwed the piece coming from the engine all the way down on top of it. I don't remember that nut being all the way down. I took the boat out yesterday and it did not seem like I was getting full speed. Do I adjust this? Should I take it to a mechanic? Thank you guys in advance for your help.
Robert

 

[galamb]

The shift linkage has nothing to do with the speed. As long as it's going into/out of gear correctly your shift linkage is fine (no matter where the nut ended up). Now, if the gears are making a grinding sound when in forward or reverse, the linkage is a little out of whack, but otherwise, it's not the source of your assumption that it's "not getting full speed".

If the motor is bogging a bit, it's is coincidental and unrealated to the water pump service. Unless you really jiggered something up and it's not pumping water causing an overheat.