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Stuck in reverse

G

Giterdone82716

New member
I have a 1996 75 hp 2 stroke mariner. While out on the gulf Saturday doing about 20 mph my son went to stop fast and accidentally pulled shifter into reverse. The shift lever went way past normal reverse position and locked motor in reverse. I pulled shift cable off slide on motor and shifter will move but can’t move shift slide on motor. Acts like something cammed over in lower unit. Any ideas on what it could be?
 
The shifter is a bar of metal with 3 detents called a shifter cam, each farther out from the pivot....the shift shaft. There is a finite length to the lever. R is nearest the end. My guess is that you ran the cam follower (on the front end of the prop shaft) past R and the follower fell off the end and is now protruding so far (being spring loaded) that you can't get it back in any of the 3 slots (FNR) on the cam.

You may have to pull the prop shaft, reposition the shifter shaft/cam and reinstall the prop shaft....never heard of that problem nor the fix but this seems reasonable.
 
Thank you Texas mark, can this be done with lower unit still attached to motor or does lower unit have to come off? In a motel parking lot and not sure how they would feel about to large of a repair.
 
Remove the remote cable from the engine for simplicity of operation. 2 bolts/nuts hold the R bearing carrier, one above and one below the prop/prop shaft. Remove the two bolts/nuts. Back out the bearing carrier and the prop shaft (as a unit) just enough to be able to move the engines shift linkage....your hand on where the remote control connects.

You probably will be able to move the shifter only slightly in one direction, not the other as you move the prop back and forth trying to "feel" that the cam follower (pointed like a bullet) is back on the cam plate and is in one of the 3 detents. Working the prop shaft in and out as needed, while moving the shift linkage back and forth, first find that you now have the cam follower back on the shifter cam and then find the center detent which is the middle position on the prop shaft movement, and is N. The prop should be freewheeling if you are there.Run the R bearing carrier nuts back in and tighten.

Test the shifter to ensure that you can shift through FNR....you have to manually turn the prop without the engine running if you want to go to R gear...cog and slot interface, vertical sided.

This is how I would approach the probem. I am here at the computer and you are there. I never had this problem but if what happened to you, happened to me, this is my course of action. Good luck.
 
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