New here! new boat with a 1969 mercury 20hp outboard long shaft

[67fastback]

Hello all,
I am new here. I just bought a new to me 13 DuraNautic boat with a 1969 Mercury 20 hp long shaft motor. It has a 3 blade prop on it now. i saw the boat in action and it seems to fly on the water, The boat planes out almost instantly with the whale tails on it too. They seem to on make two props for this motor:
48-33480a1 9 7/8 dia. 11 pitch 2 blade
48-86962a4 10"dia 9 pitch 3 blade.

What RPM is the max for this motor?
Which Prop should give me more top end?

Also as you see in the picture the side shifter lever is broken off and vise grips are used, he could not shift out of gear the old owner said. what would cause this or what is the fix?

 

[chrome dome]

l don't have that series year manual here with me but the next series manual ( blueband ) says 4800-5500 is max rpm,
don't know which prop would give this 45 yr old motor the best top end,
l wouldn't be trying to get the best speed out of her, just be happy with what it does now,

not sure whether you're asking why the gear selector broke or if it is actually stuck in gear,
the selectors break fairly easily as they're only some sort of 'plastic' and can break off if laid down in the back of your car, like mine was lol
easy to replace if that's the case,
if it is actually stuck in gear....with no reverse...that's a bit harder to fix,

 

[67fastback]

1969 Mercury 200 20hp outboard forward nuetral reverse question???

Hello all,
I have a 1969 Mercury 200 20hp outboard. The issue i am having is it seems to be stuck in forward, i just bought the motor and the shift lever was broken off and guy put a pair of vic grips on it, I bought a new lever and put it on but then when i try to shift it seems that it is stuck in gear and will not move to neutral. I did not want o brake the new lever off so I thought to ask what is up or where can I check to see what is going on? I also tried this in the tilt position when I did this. Would that matter?
Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance.

Phill.

 

[67fastback]

l don't have that series year manual here with me but the next series manual ( blueband ) says 4800-5500 is max rpm,
don't know which prop would give this 45 yr old motor the best top end,
l wouldn't be trying to get the best speed out of her, just be happy with what it does now,

not sure whether you're asking why the gear selector broke or if it is actually stuck in gear,
the selectors break fairly easily as they're only some sort of 'plastic' and can break off if laid down in the back of your car, like mine was lol
easy to replace if that's the case,
if it is actually stuck in gear....with no reverse...that's a bit harder to fix,

I think it is stuck in gear, will not move in the tilt position, I have not tried it down yet, would that matter?

 

[racerone]

Is the throttle handle at the idle position ? -----Perhaps issues with the throttle interlock or the " lock down in reverse " function.

 

[GA_Boater]

Does the motor shift with the vice grips?

 

[Texasmark]

First off, usually OB engines, at least some/most/the ones I've had Mercs don't automatically go into reverse. The shifting mechanism in the lower unit is a square pin and cog arrangement and the pin has to be directly over the cog to engage unlike N where neither gear is engaged, and F where there is an overrun clutch arrangement and it matters not if the engine is running or not. If the engine isn't running then you have to put slight force on the shifter and rotate the prop slowly until the shifter moves all the way into the gear. Otherwise LINKAGE DAMAGE, aka bent shift rod or worse can result and may already be present in your engine and may be the problem.

You didn't say, or I missed it that you could or couldn't shift with the vise grip shift lever. Need an answer to that.

Next wouldn't hurt to drain the lower unit and put in new gaskets on the fill and drain screw and new lower unit oil. See a repair shop or Merc dealer for the parts and they can tell you what oil you should use. Upon draining the oil check the color. If not blue black, if using Quicksilver/Mercury oil you could have water intrusion which on that old of an engine, if left sitting up for a time, could have rusted parts in the LU and caused an inability to shift.....not good news.

If you get through the above and still have a problem shifting, you need to drop the lower unit and see if the problem is internal or linkage. On the front of the LU at the top is a short splined shaft that is your shifter. Merc uses a cam and cam follower and twisting the shaft is how the shifter works. Remember the reverse rule when shifting. You should feel 3 distinct positions where the cam follower falls into a detent in the cam corresponding to the 3 gear positions. Upon reinstalling, before you install the shifter linkage on the shaft, ensure that the cam and the shifter are in the same position, aka F and F or N and N.

Get some answers and come back for more.

Mark

 

[Texasmark]

Go to your other post for my answer.

 

[GA_Boater]

Both threads are merged.

 

[67fastback]

Update - Good news.. I took the cow off and looked at how the linkage worked. I found out that I put the lever on not know what gear it was in. turns out it was in reverse. so I slow moved the lever forward and it did finally move into N and then into F. I just was afraid to put alot of pressure ont he new lever so I did not brake it.. Seem it does take some force to move it in and out of gear, not sure if that is a good or bad thing.. the unit has been run about 2 months again the guy I bought it from took care of it seemed and run really fast with the 3 blade prop.

 

[GA_Boater]

When you shift when the motor is OFF, try spinning prop as you move the shift lever. Sometimes depending how the gears are lined up with nothing moving, shifting can be hard or impossible.

 

[Chinewalker]

That lower unit shifts opposite of later 20hp series units. With that in mind, the shift handle was originally set horizontally, handle forward, so that it was "UP" for forward and "DOWN" for reverse. If you set the handle vertically you will shift "backwards" of most outboard with a side-mount shifter.