Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

I have a 1997 FORCE 90 HP that I cannot get it out of forward.<br />I have tried moving shift lever all the way to each side with the L/U <br />off and reinstalling it each time with the shifter forward and reversed. <br />This did not work.<br />I tried marking the L/U when moving the shifter all of the way left (mark) all the way to the <br />right (mark) then center it between the 2 marks and put the shifter in neutral.<br />This did not work.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

My old Force (1983 85hp) has a rod with a key, and very easy to do. I assume yours has a splined shaft like a Merc? You ought to be able to shift it by turning the shaft and moving the prop a little so the gears move. Do not scratch the splines. Then set the shifter and put it in there. Maybe the splines are binding at assembly? LUs are a real wiggle and jiggle deal most of the time. Shoud have a thin coating of grease on all splines when assembling too.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Hi Robert,<br /> Do you think you may have done something to make it not come out of forward?Example:Shifting from reverse to forward quickly?<br />How/when did it get stuck in forward?<br />Try rotating the prop shaft slowly while engaging shift rod.May help <br />PS>Keep that grease off the very top of the driveshaft <br /> Quote:LUs are a real wiggle and jiggle deal most of the time.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Thanks sho305 and reel appeal,<br /><br />The shifter shaft is splined. The book says not to lubricate the main shaft but I do not remember anything about the shifter shaft. The book does not cover the shifter very well at all.<br />The engine ran fine when I bought it. It got hot and quit. I tore it down over the winter and put a new water pump impeller in and plate and gaskets. When I put it back together the propeller would only turn clockwise (without rotating the drive shaft). I started the engine and the propeller would only turn clockwise with the engine RPM's no matter where I put the shift handle. So I disassembled and tried to find neutral - no luck only forward.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Any other Ideas would be appreciated.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Thanks to everyone that tried to help. I guess this one has to go to the shop.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Robert, to me it sounds like you're not getting the shift shafts to connect assuming you don't have damaged gears...<br /><br />Let me tell you what happened to me when I was reattaching the LU on my 50hp Merc.<br /><br />I had a **** of a time getting the lower and upper shift shafts to line up... Here is why...<br />Everytime I tried to push the LU up and thought I had the shift shafts lined up... The upper shaft would be pushed upward, never really engaging with the lower shaft (it is splined also btw). So when I thought they were engaged they weren't... You can tell if the upper shaft has been pushed upward by looking at it under the powerhead where it attaches to the shift linkage. What I ended up having to do is put something on top of the shift linkage (a wedge or block of wood, whatever) to prevent it from moving upward so easily, if I didn't get the shafts lined up exactly. This way I could give a little more force on the lower unit and move the prop, jiggle the upper shaft, whatever it took to get the shafts to engage.<br />Obviously you want to make sure the shafts are in the same gear position. Normally you want both to be in forward when you do this... You can use a socket that fits over the lower shaft to switch gears. <br />I also had to use a small bent piece of metal to help me position the upper shaft in line with the lower, those dang things just wouldn't line up at all. But once I finally pushed the upper shaft over a little with my makeshift tool, I was then able to get them together without worrying about pushing the upper shaft upward....You'll want someone to help you, don't try to do this yourself or you'll have a nervous breakdown like I did...

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Robert,<br /><br />One other thing, I was looking at a part schematic for your engine and it shows a bushing and coupling that should be attached at the bottom of the upper shift shaft....<br /><br />Is it there, and if so is it in good shape?<br /><br />BTW, you said that you turned the lower shift shaft to put it in neutral, is that right? If you did, did you notice any difference in how the prop turned (this is with the LU removed). When in neutral the prop should turn quite freely in both directions. When in gear it will turn but you will feel or hear clicks as it rotates...<br />If the lower shaft is in the neatral position and the prop won't turn freely or in both directions, you could have a gear problem. Or something is going on with the lower shaft not doing its job.<br /><br />Here is an address to that schematic site, it may help you..<br /><br />http://www.dougrussell.com/partscatalog/collections/index.cfm?fuseaction=colle ctdetails&colid=06

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Thank you KCLOST,<br /><br />I am pretty sure that they went together OK but what the heck I can try what you described as it has to come apart again anyway.<br /><br />Yes it does have a bushing conector that sets on a plastic/nylon bushing and it is in good shape.<br /><br />I tried turning the prop as well as the shaft and the prop only clicks while turning it clockwise (thereby turning clockwise while the engine is running). It makes no difference where you put the shift shaft in the L/U it still clicks while manually turning the prop clockwise and will not turn counter clockwise with out turning the drive shaft backwards (which I will not do - as I do not want to ruin the new water impeller).<br /><br />I agree with you as to it making you crazy trying to do it by yourself (as I have no helper around).<br /><br />I had it not line up with the shaft rod coming from the engine down (I heard it pop in place when I moved the engine flywheel).<br /><br />I will have to re-post this problem when I am able to get back to work on the project. My wife is currently in the hospital and I do not have time to work on the project and travel an hour each way to the hospital and spend 8 hrs visiting. By the time I get back to the project this post will be buried.<br /><br />I will let you know what I find.<br /><br />I did try turning the prop and shifting the L/U with it off but no luck. I do not understand what happened to it as the on ly thing that I took apart on the L/U was the water pump housing to the plate and no lower. <br /><br />Again thanks and I will let you know in another post.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

I just went to the URL that you posted for me and I bookmarked it.<br /><br />However I could not get the 1997 force page to come up. I will try again later.<br /><br />Thanks for the site it looks like I might be able to get some good info there.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Hello again KCLOST,<br /><br />I tried the URL again today and could not get in. I will keep trying.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Still no luck - KCLOST

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

I tried it and had no problem....<br />Don't know what may cause your trouble getting in...<br /><br />Robert, if you can't get the LU into neutral with the LU off, it sounds like a gear problem... And I won't even get into that, because I don't want to speculate as to what is specifically wrong...<br />Go ahead and take if off again (which you planned to do anyway) and make sure of that. Try every position you can... BTW, do you have oil in the LU? You may try to lightly (and I mean lightly!!!) tapping on the lower shaft (don't damage the splined area), use a rubber mallet or a piece of wood and see if it is seized down all the way... Just a suggestion....<br /><br />Another thing, and I would like suggestions from other posters on this, I don't think that moving the flywheel will help you get the upper and lower shift shafts together. They shouldn't move unless you move them yourself. Turning the flywheel will help you to get the drive shaft up into the Powerhead but shouldn't have any effect on the shiftshafts... So you may want to double check the next time you reattach the LU...

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Thanks KCLOST,<br /><br />This is a true and acurate statement from you:<br /><br />Another thing, and I would like suggestions from other posters on this, I don't think that moving the flywheel will help you get<br /> the upper and lower shift shafts together. They shouldn't move unless you move them yourself. Turning the flywheel will help<br /> you to get the drive shaft up into the Powerhead but shouldn't have any effect on the shiftshafts... So you may want to<br /> double check the next time you reattach the LU... <br /><br />What I was talking about when I said that I was moving the flywheel was after the L/U was up<br />and I was trying to get it to go into/out of gear. I was moving the shift lever by hand.<br /><br />Again as I stated earlier - I will not get to work on it for a while - until my wife gets some recovery time.<br /><br />I am not sure what you are reffering to when you say tap on the L/U shaft. There are only two shafts visible with the L/U off and they are the drive shaft and the shift shaft.<br /><br />If it is locked in forward does anyone know how to get it into neutral??? (without disassembly of the L/U)

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Robert,<br /><br />What I meant by tapping the shaft, is actually tapping on the Lower Shift Shaft when the Lower Unit is off. Kind of like hitting the side of a TV when it doesn't work.<br />If you are not able to shift gears when turning the Lower shift shaft something might be wrong with it. I was thinking maybe that the shaft is not seated down all the way (but I'm not sure that can even happen) to the point that it isn't shifting the gears properly. So tapping on it "lightly" (downward) and testing it afterwards may be something to try....

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

When you had it all apart did you do anything to the shifters pivot point. On this motor I think the pivot is a large screw on the side towards the back of the propeller gear housing. If you took this screw out and the shifter moved then you wouldn't be able to move the shifter. On the side of this lower unit there are three screws, one says "vent", one says "fill", and one doesn't say anything. The one that doesn't say anything is the shifter pivot. Did you remove this screw?<br /><br />The oil drain is a small hex screw on the bottom near the back of the skeg.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

wvit,<br />You have me all confused now... I do think there are three screws but I think they are all part of the LU Oil....<br />The schematic shows two Drain screws and one Plug Screw....

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Thank you wvit100,<br /><br />I did change the oil in the L/U. I do not remember which screws I fooled with.<br />Let us say for the sake of argument that I took this screw out. How do I go <br />about undoing what ever it is that I might have done????? I did not take the <br />L/U apart other than the water impeller housing and plate. I put in new gaskets <br />and a new plate and impeller.<br /><br />I could not think of anything that I did that would cause this problem - but now <br />that you mentioned the L/U drain screws that could be it!!!!! <br /><br />KCLOST - I will try tapping on it if this screw thing does not pan out...

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

I might be able to get back to this project by this week end.

Re: Lower unit appears to be stuck in forward on my 90 HP FORCE

Hello again KCLOST,<br /><br />I have tried several times to get into the website that you mentioned <br />above. I get to the serial numbers from/to page and then I get the 404 error message.<br /><br />I guess there is something wrong with my Netscape server. I have not tried it on <br />Internet Explorer that is my next step. <br /><br />