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mercruiser alpha1 gen1

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Arcticcatrider400

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I have an 87 wellcraft, had to change the impeller, and after reassembling it I am unable to shift correctly. the throttle wont shift from forward to neutral or reverse. I don't know if I have the shift lever installed backwards or not. but this is how I have it.
 

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with the brass shoe in the straight position you should be able to lock the prop shaft CCW. If you can lock it in a CW motion you have the shift shoe on the splined lower shaft in reverse gear and will need to drop the lower, turn the splined shaft fully clockwise until the prop shaft locks CCW. this is fwd gear.
 
I've got the prop to lock every time, that's not the issue. it will go back on in forward gear 2 ways. with the long side of the brass shoe forward or the short side forward. not sure what way is right.
 
The prop MUST LOCK in the CCW direction for fwd with the shoe straight.If you looked at the shoe from above, 12:00 is fwd, 11:00 is Neutral and 10:30 is rev
 
I can get the prop lock forward, not a problem.... Everything lines up right and slides togeather fine, it's just when I try to go to neutral with everything together it won't lock in to neutral and the throttle will not move any further back. It was shifting fine before I took it apart so I am thinking my throttle cables are ok. The only thing I can think of is the brass shoe and which side faces forward was positioned wrong. Any ideas would help. Thanks
 
That's what I`m trying to tell you, with the shoe straight the prop shaft must lock in a CCW direction. It sounds like you have the lower unit in reverse with the shoe in a straight line.
With the shoe straight ,what direction is the prop locking in?
 
123_zps73ffac28.jpg
RED - F YELLOW - N BLUE - R If yours is not exactly like the pic, your in reverse gear with the shoe straight
 
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Prop locked ccw bungee cord holding tension on it. Brass shoe at position shown in picture 12 o'clock. Throttle in forward position during install. Does this sound correct?
 
You have to seperate the two halfs of the drive again

1. put shift control in forward

2. seperate the two half of outdrive

3. with the hafls seperated, twist splined shift shaft in lower unit fully clockwise while twisting the propeller c'clock wise until it locks in place.

4. carefully recoonect the two halfs while making sure the bronze shift arm (with the female splines) is pointing at 12:00 and get it to mate with the shift shaft in the lower unit. You may have to spin the prop C'clock wise some more to spin the vertical drive shaft to allow proper engagement with the upper drive gear.

5. Tighten all bolts and nuts

6. done.

Most likley you twisted the prop shaft the wrong way when trying to engage the vertical drive shaft with the upper drive gear and causing the shift shaft to spin out of forward gear..............
 
I can manually shift it by hand and it cycles through all gears with the brass shoe in the correct location for all gears, however once it is all back on the boat the throttle lever feels like it is binding, and without the out drive installed the throttle works fine.
 
If this is the case does the throttle/shift control works properly and the outdrive shifts to the correct gear?

forward, neutral, reverse?

If it is hard to shift then it may be a couple possible issues.

1. the stainless steel verical shift shaft in the gimbal housing may be tight (the shaft that the bronze shift arm connects to). this is checked with the drive OFF. It should move very smooth and easy.

2. The short shift cable is binding may need replacement

3. is there excess debris behind the funky looking aluminum shift cable end that sticks out of the bell housing? If so, the hole on the back side can and does fill with crud and causes the cable to move hard and may not shift completely into reverse when shifting by the control handle.
If this is so then let us know.
 
got it all figured out. as I was rushing through things I didn't stop and think it over, I was putting the assembly together with the throttle in forward, brass shoe at 12 o'clock and the prop locked in reverse. Thank you for all the help. one last question should my prop spin ccw when the boat is in forward gear in water?
 
well im not sure whats up now. with the throttle in forward gear the prop spins freely to the right neutral is fine, and reverse the prop spins freely to the left. this is just me rotating it by hand.
 
Its a bit confusing when your thinking of how the prop turns. When we assemble these things we need to turn a shaft to line things up.Most times fwd gear is whats needed.
So when we say it locks CCW in fwd its because under engine power the gears turn the prop CW. If we try to turn the prop by hand clockwise it will ratchet in fwd gear.
With the shoe in a straight line(fwd) and the outdrive in fwd (lower splined shaft turned fully clockwise) the prop will lock CCW. Under engine power the shaft turns CW
 
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Yes.........

Stop trying to over think this........someone else a long time ago figured it all out so you would not have to..........lol
 
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