Mercury 4HP 1980 Won't Shift After Water Pump Impeller Replacement

[WaterView]

Hello and thanks for any help in advance.

I have a 1980 Mercury 4 HP outboard with the serial number of 5927672. I set out to change the water pump impeller, thought it would be a fun project, silly me. I did manage to get the impeller installed but now it will not shift after I have reassembled things. It just has netural and forward, no reverse, by design you turn the motor 180 for reverse. The only notable thing is the shift shaft did come out lower gear housing in the process. I did get it put back in its hole it doesnt seem to making any real contact with anything. I would say my problem is be related to that. Hopefully an kind expert will know the answer and be able to help with this and get me going again.

Thank You, Al

[Maxz695]

did you make sure the drive was in the same position as the shifter lever when you put it back up I think your off by 1

[WaterView]

Thanks for the really quick reply. Could you please clarify it a bit for me please. I don't understand it fully. What do you mean by the position of the drive shaft the same as the shift lever?

[Maxz695]

when instaling the LU back up it must be in the same postion sa the shifter. if the LU is in drive prop turns on way and clicks in the opposite direction in Neutral the prop will spin freely both ways in reverse the prop will lock in both directions Someone yesterday was having a problem puting there 9.9 back up in neutral so I asked him to put the shifter in forwards and put the LU in forwards and try agia he got it first shot after that. for some reason these smaller engines don,t like to be put up in anything but forwards as the shifter tend to move when they try in neutral give it a shot

[WaterView]

Well as embarrassing as it may be I thought I would post the answer since I figured things out and it may help someone out if they make the same mistake. On this little motor the shift shaft is one long rod from top to bottom. If you get the bottom of the shaft back in its hole in the lower gear housing things will be ok. The problem had nothing to do with shifting. What I did have wrong is I did not get the drive shaft engaged with the crankshaft end when I put things back up. It felt like the splines did engage as I rotated the flywheel going back together but it was the drive shaft hitting on the crankshafts counter weight instead. Since I have had this apart several times now I am pretty good at it and if someone needs help I could post some pictures. Happy and safe boating!