2005 Yamaha F50TLR 4 Stroke Lower Unit will not shift to neutral

[famas44]

Hello everyone, I have done maintenance on my Yamaha, but never changed the impeller. I purchased the Yamaha kit and installed it without an issue. Now, I reinstalled the unit and the lower unit will not shift into neutral. Took it off again and tried to see if the shaft was misaligned, now I can't get the lower unit in neutral at all. It was working fine before I did this change (it was the water pump that needed maintenance). What can I do to try and get this into neutral? The shifter and everything is fine, it is the lower unit.

Also, the small plastic piece broke that connected the water pressure hose to the lower unit broke. Does anyone know this part number?

Thanks!

 

[famas44]

Also, I have taken off the lower unit again and played with the shift knob and the unit stays in forward. I am very frustrated because I know this will be a $500 repair if I take it into the shop.

 

[99yam40]

Not sure if your F50 is like my C40 2 stroke, but the lower unit is spring loaded into forward gear.
you have to over ride the spring tension to get to neutral and reverse.

with the lower unit off turn the shift shaft until you find neutral, shaft will turn 360 Degrees.
do not damage the splines on the shaft.
with controls and lower unit in neutral put it back together

 

[famas44]

I was moving the gear shaft by hand and I guess I will have to use pliers with padding to rotate clockwise. Does this sound correct? If in forward, should I move it clockwise?

 

[99yam40]

Yes pliers and padding
on my C40 it can be turned either direction, as I said it will turn a complete circle with no problems

 

[famas44]

I dropped the lower unit and it was the gear drive out of place. I moved it without too much force with pliers and a towel. Waiting for the new water hose connector to arrive in the mail. I hope the shaft and the motor line up when I install it again! Thanks for your help.

 

[famas44]

99yam40, thanks for your help. The part arrived today (hose connector) and I reassembled without any issues. Saved me a lot of $$ if I took it to the repair shop just to manually shift it into gear! Sometimes doing maintenance on your own is good, but can really be frustrating!

 

[99yam40]

Good to hear
some times simple things can cause problems