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Lower Unit won't go back one - Can't get into forward gear

I

ignisuti

Member
I removed the lower half the alpha one to replace the water pump impeller. The lower half went back into place like butter, but at that point I realized I had mucked up and remembered that I forgot to disconnect the speedo tube when pulled it off in the first place (months ago). When I did that, I accidentally pulled an extra 12 inches of tubing out with it. So, to fix this, I removed the lower half again, and then the upper half. I found where the tube was disconnected and reconnected it. I replaced the gaskets and seals while I was in there and put it all back together.

Now this time I can't get the lower unit back onto the upper half. I'm about 1" away. Not sure exactly what's hanging me up. I read in other posts that the Throttle needs to be in the forward position (in gear). So, I tried that, but notice that the gear shifter mechanism in my alpha one upper half is not completely facing forward. I would say it's cocked at a 20-degree angle. I move the throttle back and forth in the boat, but this gear shift mechanism does not appear to move!!!

I'm not entirely sure how that mechanism works, but I was expecting it to move and now suspect it's what is hanging me up. Can I please get some help on this situation?
 
I dont know of any alpha 1 with a speedo hooked to the drive, the GEN II however does have it.
Does the lower have a splined shift shaft or a SS one bent at a 90
 
Bt Doctur said:
I don't know of any alpha 1 with a speedo hooked to the drive, the GEN II however does have it.
Does the lower have a splined shift shaft or a SS one bent at a 90
Click to expand...

You may be right. I'm not that familiar with these and the label is worn off. I can tell you it's a 1995 Rinker Flotilla if that helps at all.

The shifter mechanism is metal (likely stainless steel) and it is bent at a 90. I've also tried setting this at 20-degree position to match the part in the upper half, but it still gets hung up. I'm a bit worried now that I mucked up something when I had the top half off.
 
Shift into full fwd gear from the control box. shidt shaft must be in a straight line.
Rotate lower shift shaft fully clockwise , should be in a straight line with prop locked CCW.
Raise lower unit , turn prop slightly CW to align driveshaft splines, engage lower shift into upper shift,start a bolt.

To check the upper, in full fwd it will be in a straight line, shifting to neutral moves it CCW about a 3/8ths or so, shifting into full Rev moves it all the way CCW.
 
Bt Doctur said:
Shift into full fwd gear from the control box. shidt shaft must be in a straight line.
Click to expand...

So, it sounds like I've mucked up something in the upper half. I'll try to find the time to pull it back off tonight. If you have any other thoughts, please comment.

When I pull it off, how can I ensure everything is correct? Do I ask someone to shift the gear box back and forth so I can verify the rectangular piece in the upper half moves in and out?
 
I'm a bit confused. Let me try to understand. So you did remove both upper and lower from the boat correct? Then separated the two halves correct? And when you position the upper onto the lower to re-assemble it lacks an inch joining? An inch separation would not be attributed to the shifter. You just don't have the splines aligned yet. Either move the upper slightly side to side to get splines aligned or, with lower shifter facing forward (12:00 o'clock, i.e. forward gear), move prop CCW to align splines. You say the upper shifter is still at 20 degrees (i.e. not 12:00 o'clock forward). Sometimes it doesn't respond that way. Just take your hand and move it to 12:00.
 
Sorry for the late reply. Just wanted to post my solution in hopes it'll help someone else.

It was the splines afterall!

I was trying to do this by myself lying on my back and pushing up. There simply wasn't any way for me to put the prop on to spin the shaft while holding the lower half with my other hand.

What I did was raise the trim all the way up. This made it so that the lower half only needed a slight bit of support (not all my strength) to stay in place. Then, I put vice grips LIGHTLY on spline with a thick rag to make sure no damage was done. The vice grips made it MUCH easier to spin the splines than with my heavy stainless steel prop. A few slight twists and it slid together!
 
Update: I decided to take it to a shop and have them do the repairs. They replaced the following:
Lower Shift cable, Control box, Throttle cable, Shift cable and then told me this.
"Shift interrupt switch and temp alarm are unplugged as someone has tampered with the settings and we cannot get working properly."

Does that make sense to anyone here? The shift interrupt switch is pretty dead simple. How could it be tampered with.

Also, I'm not convinced I needed a control box, but at this point I'm just happy to be getting my boat back in 'somewhat' usable condition.
 
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