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Gear Shifting a Struggle

J

joeboyd4

New member
1995 Johnson 150hp Fast Strike - Never loan your boat to anyone! The plastic shift lever snapped apparently when they tried to shift it. After some coaxing, I was able to get the gear to shift into reverse. But I can't get it to go anywhere near forward. I am about to drain and refill the lower unit oil to see if that will help. What other advice can you guys give me???
PS - Just got a 1950 Evinrude in great shape with the original gas tank. I'll talk more about this a little later.
 
The shift cover on the lower unit will bind from corrosion and make it impossible to shift. Not a big deal to repair.

Disconnect the shift cable at the engine and see if you can now move the controller. If the cable and controller move easily, drop the lower unit.

I just change the cover and the gasket, not worth trying to loosen it up.
 
THanks Chris! I disconnected the cables. They move freely but the shift arm still won't budge into forward and doesn't want to go into reverse either although I can force it! The boat is in a boat house here at my home so it's tough to service. The repair manual says to replace the gear juice which I can do. Is there anything else I can do given where my boat is??
 
Thanks Kim - already 'deep six'd' the clamp that holds the cables in place. My neighbor has offerred to help me get the boat out of the water. I think I am going to take him up on it since I have never dropped or pulled a gear box. What do I do once i have it pulled?
 
These models are bad about the upper motor mount bolts backing out and causing shift rod to bind up and bend..
 
joeboyd4 said:
THanks Chris! I disconnected the cables. They move freely but the shift arm still won't budge into forward and doesn't want to go into reverse either although I can force it! The boat is in a boat house here at my home so it's tough to service. The repair manual says to replace the gear juice which I can do. Is there anything else I can do given where my boat is??
Click to expand...

Time to drop the lower and check the shift cover. You should be able to move the shift rod up and down in the lower with very little effort. If not change the cover.
 
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