1990 Johnson 35hp shift linkage?

[Scolabird]

Thanks to racerone and any1 who has chimed in along the way changing water pump and lower shift bushing..
We got the lower shift bushing out and new 1 installed. Went ahead and checked gears/clutch and all looked surprisingly great! Put all back together and it felt fine shifting from neutral and reverse but a bit spongy/smooth into forward. At times the shifter is shifted to Fwd but prop free spins like still in neutral. Upon shifting from R to N to F while observing the shift rod union behind water screen on l.u. We noticed a hard and tactile shift to R then the rod continued to move up as we got to neutral but when shifting further up to Foward the handle clunks to forward position but the rod never appears to move[still observing where water screen is]??? Yall what in the world have I done?? When dropping the l.u. we left the water tube and the shift rod in the leg and never unhooked either of them... I tried to adjust[thread] up and down the 2 shift rod connectors to no avail. Somehow/something is misaligned but I have no clue where since we never took shift rod out? I fought with it for an hour and it occasionally seemed to go to Fwd. Put it on the lake and it idled and ran fine until we tried to speed up and shed jump out of gear !! Ugh

Any help is always appreciated as we have thousands into a crappy jonboat and motor that are worth hundreds
Thx
JS

 

[racerone]

The lower shift rod must be fully screwed into the lower unit.----Propeller must be turned when shifting on dry land with motor not running.

 

[Scolabird]

Tried that racer and she seemed fine but jumping out of fwd..while on land I can clearly see she bearely shifts to fwd but shifts solid into reverse . My questions is ...
Since I didn't disconnect shift rod undercowling or down the leg... what else can I be missing?
Lower shift rod screws all the way down in shift fork till it stops and still trouble going more than a 1/4 inch into fwd gear?

 

[bigtime_mcalpine]

On my 35 triple, there is an adjustment that can be made up top to adjust the throw of the shifter. Is there anything like that on yours just below the powerhead?