I just purchased a used boat and did not notice this in the test run because I did not run it in reverse very hard. The motor rus great in the forward direction with no problems. When you go to put it in reverse the motor gears appear to grind or roll a little and then it goes in to gear. Not very hard to get in reverse though. The motor the rus in reverse farely well until you torque down on it by appling more throttle and then the lower unit starts thumping real hard with it continuing to go in reverse. I Sounds like a gear may be missing a tooth but I draineed the lower unit and found no signs of metal. Did not want to pull the unit if it could be an adjustment problem. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks