1998 Mercury 25 2-Stroke Shift Linkage Adjustment

MotorlessCSJ16

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
47
My motor shifts fine in and out of forward but only shift into reverse when it wants to (while the motor's running of course). I decreased the idle RPM and it help a little but it's definitely at a very low idle right now.

Only other thing I could think of is shift linkage needs adjusting. How do I do this?
 

verado7

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
511
Re: 1998 Mercury 25 2-Stroke Shift Linkage Adjustment

is this a tiller model or does it have the remote mounted controls ? post back . but i can add that small outboards dont really have a strong reverse gear assembly - they are very easily broken compared to larger models - usually nothing to worry about mine still runs fine 10 years after breaking the reverse . i was slowing down at my crab trap ( not slow enough) when i hit reverse and pop - bye bye reverse .by the way in the good ole days they didnt even put reverse on small outboards for that reason - they just sort of became a convenience .
 

MotorlessCSJ16

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
47
Re: 1998 Mercury 25 2-Stroke Shift Linkage Adjustment

is this a tiller model or does it have the remote mounted controls ? post back . but i can add that small outboards dont really have a strong reverse gear assembly - they are very easily broken compared to larger models - usually nothing to worry about mine still runs fine 10 years after breaking the reverse . i was slowing down at my crab trap ( not slow enough) when i hit reverse and pop - bye bye reverse .by the way in the good ole days they didnt even put reverse on small outboards for that reason - they just sort of became a convenience .

It's a tiller model with the shift in the handle. It stays in/comes out of reverse just fine...when it wants to. If not, it just won't go in. It feels stuck. Really weird...

I figure the linkage may just need some tweaking as it doesn't grind or anything.
 
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