Throttle control not alligned with gears

[jonboy]

"I purchsed a 1985 35HP Mercur

"I purchsed a 1985 35HP Mercury that has been in storage for 7 years. I replaced the water pump ( as per recommendations on this site ) and I started it this weekend. When the throttle control is in neutral, and I start the motor, it moves the boat forward. When I pull back the throttle control a bit ( between reverse and neutral ) the motor goes into neutral. When I put the control into reverse, there is a grinding of gears and the boat moves backwards a bit. When I tried to put it further into reverse, it seemed to slip and only revved the motor. With the motor off, the throttle control barely moves forward past neutral, but moves to reverse and then another notch beyond reverse. How would I adjust this? Do I need to remove the lower unit again to do this, or can I adjust the linkage under the hood. It was a royal pain in the A$$ getting it back together, and I'm wondering if thats where the problem started."

 

[beckerjs]

"the lower must be dropped. Fr

"the lower must be dropped. From now on do it in neutral on the control and it will be easy. It was a pain because it wasn't lined up.
Put a pair of vise grips on the lower unit shift shaft and turn it ccw just a bit. Grab the prop and spin it, it should spin easy in both directions. You must find neutral on the lower unit. You can also turn the drive shaft cw to verify neutral.
Install lower unit in neutral, control in neutral, check lower unitis in neutral by spinning prop as you work. Wiggle flywheel to align splines.
Check down locks after install, motor should lock down when in neutral and reverse, not when in forward."

 

[tomf]

"Just my 2c's to add -

"Just my 2c's to add -

If you can't get it to work by adjusting the shift shaft as mentioned by JB, you might want to pick up a service manual and check that you have the correct adjustments and clearances for both the control cables and linkages. You might need one of the bootleg electronic OEM manuals since at least my Clymer and Seloc provide no details on control cable installation.

These linkages and adjustments are surprisingly sensitive - just a few millimeters' worth of incorrect length somewhere can make the difference between shifting properly or not. Took me about a year of tweaking to get the linkages on my 15hp back to specs through reverse engineering various bizarre "adjustments" made by the previous owner...

"