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1998 Johnson 175 Ficht slipping out of reverse

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xyourobob12

Member
My 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht doesn't like staying in reverse, when I put her into reverse, it bucks, and feels like its trying to pop out of reverse. I'm taking off the lower end to do the water pump and thought it might be a good idea to tackle that nuisance, I thought I read somewhere that it can be adjusted but I can't find it in the manual, has anyone dealt with this issue before?
 
Cables are only adjustable at engine end. But if the shift rod height is wrong (as screwed into lower unit the wrong distance) it changes the geometry of the mechanism below.
 
Okay so I suspect my shift rod height needs adjustment, I just serviced my water pump, I have to push the throttle forward slightly to be able to line up the pin through the shift rod. The shift rod height is adjusted by turning the rod forward or backwards? I'm guessing I need to drop the lower unit to make that adjustment? Once I have the shift rod height correct, is it the dials on the shift cable mechanism that are used for making adjustments? My manual doesn't give a good description for making this adjustment.
 
xyourobob12 said:
Okay so I suspect my shift rod height needs adjustment, I just serviced my water pump, I have to push the throttle forward slightly to be able to line up the pin through the shift rod. The shift rod height is adjusted by turning the rod forward or backwards? I'm guessing I need to drop the lower unit to make that adjustment? Once I have the shift rod height correct, is it the dials on the shift cable mechanism that are used for making adjustments? My manual doesn't give a good description for making this adjustment.
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Yes, the LU must come off to adjust shift rod height. The height is set by measuring from the top of the LU (mating surface with the mid-section) to the center of the shift rod. The shift rod should be in neutral when doing this. I believe the measurement for your engine is 21 15/16" +/- 1/32 for a 20" lower unit.

The video from Dangar Marine is a good example of making the adjustment using a homemade measuring tool: Shift Rod Adjustment from Dangar Marine
 
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