Hello everyone. My name is Alex, and I am a new boat/motor owner. A friend of mine from work purchased a new boat, and gave me an old boat and motor he owned. The boat is old, but in excellent condition, and the motor likewise is in very decent shape.
I am very new to boats and outboard motors, so please forgive my lack of technical knowledge here.
As stated in the title, the motor is a Mercury 1968 20HP twin. It's a bit greasy, but it is in pretty good condition. Some wiring needs repair, and I'll probably need to replace the wiring harness. I'll be doing a full tune-up using my Seloc manual, replace the foot oil, use some seafoam in the fuel mixture and such. Regardless my friend ran the motor at least a couple of times, so I know it runs.
The main issue is with the gear shifting. When the foot is on, it is impossible to shift into neutral. I can push it towards neutral, but it won't click, and meets resistance. I don't know if it is reverse or forward, the shifter is rotated aft.
If I take the foot *off*, then I can shift easily, forward, neutral, reverse, no resistance. Likewise, I can take pliers, and rotate the shifter on the foot while it is off, and I can shift into gear or neutral with no issues.
Now, when examining the shift-shaft inside the leg, I can see how the little flat tab is rotated, and from what I can see, the issue seems to be that the shift-shaft in the leg, and the shifter on the foot are in different rotations. Like this:
With the shifter in the aft position, the flat tab is also aft. When I shift into neutral, then forward/reverse, the tab from inside the leg rotates to the left. However, the shifter on the foot, goes from aft, to the right, not the left. I think it's possible the shifter on the foot or the shift-shaft in the leg needs to be rotated so they line up properly in all rotated points. BUT I'm a newbie at this stuff, so I need the help of more experienced people to get this fixed.
Note: My friend had this problem when he first got the boat, and he couldn't figure it out, so asking him won't help.
Thanks!
I am very new to boats and outboard motors, so please forgive my lack of technical knowledge here.
As stated in the title, the motor is a Mercury 1968 20HP twin. It's a bit greasy, but it is in pretty good condition. Some wiring needs repair, and I'll probably need to replace the wiring harness. I'll be doing a full tune-up using my Seloc manual, replace the foot oil, use some seafoam in the fuel mixture and such. Regardless my friend ran the motor at least a couple of times, so I know it runs.
The main issue is with the gear shifting. When the foot is on, it is impossible to shift into neutral. I can push it towards neutral, but it won't click, and meets resistance. I don't know if it is reverse or forward, the shifter is rotated aft.
If I take the foot *off*, then I can shift easily, forward, neutral, reverse, no resistance. Likewise, I can take pliers, and rotate the shifter on the foot while it is off, and I can shift into gear or neutral with no issues.
Now, when examining the shift-shaft inside the leg, I can see how the little flat tab is rotated, and from what I can see, the issue seems to be that the shift-shaft in the leg, and the shifter on the foot are in different rotations. Like this:
With the shifter in the aft position, the flat tab is also aft. When I shift into neutral, then forward/reverse, the tab from inside the leg rotates to the left. However, the shifter on the foot, goes from aft, to the right, not the left. I think it's possible the shifter on the foot or the shift-shaft in the leg needs to be rotated so they line up properly in all rotated points. BUT I'm a newbie at this stuff, so I need the help of more experienced people to get this fixed.
Note: My friend had this problem when he first got the boat, and he couldn't figure it out, so asking him won't help.
Thanks!