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Lower unit not staying in gear

M

Moneypit2696

New member
I have Wellscraft 280 aft 1984 boat. This yea when pulled I out of storage found out he bellows were bad and trim senders . tore the out drive a part and replaced the gamble bearing ad bellows and trim senders also the water hose and shift cable . I also replaced the shafts and bushings in the trim unit front ad back. Then replaced the water pump . put the unit back together and had problems with the alinement of it.The top half went on smooth but the lower unit didn't . When I got the lower unit on it stayed in gear in forward gear and in neural but kicks out in reverse the foot comes out of the saddle.
Now after trying to line it up and get it on so many times I have messed up the oil seal on the upper half of the stern drive. How o you replace the oil seal without tearing the whole unit apart.
 
Carefully so not to change the gear location (F, N, R).

When removing the shift shaft seal you can pull it up carefully so you DONT lift shift shaft out of bell crank in lower. If you do this then it is important get the shift shaft re-engaged in bell crank. Turn shift shaft to FOWARD gear with pliers or special tool (hand made) then install shift shaft seal, Then when assembling upper to lower making sure BRONZE shift arm is pointing straight forward at 12:00 position.

If the BRONZE shif arm is coming out of the vertical stainless steel shift shaft in gimbal housing then you did not reassemble the two half properly. You missed a washer on top of shift shaft seal

see link to parts break down.
http://www.marineengine.com/parts/m...5577-thru-0d469858/gear-housing-driveshaft-mr

Item 52 is stainless steel washer (special, not one from hardware store!)
Item 51 Rubber washer sits on top of seal lip.

Also look at the U shape/slot in the vertical shaft mentioned above. If the U is bent out from not having the drive in forward when trying to remove it needs to be squared off to keep it tight to the bronze shift arm.

Also the Bronze shift arm should NOT be rounded where it engages with the vertical shift shaft U/slot.
 
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