[Nandy]

I have a problem with my 1968 Mercury 500 / 50 H.P. 4 Cylinders Motor. Like I mention on earlier post, a friend of mine was trying to help me takeout the boat and tried to go in reverse while the boat was beached in a sand bar and the motor was also in the sand. From that moment on the reverse gear will not shift easily and the forward gear will slip at high revolution.
I took the lower unit off and look at it, everything looked fine for exception for where the sliding clutch and the forward gear engaged. I saw real minimum wear there. Probably form those times that it was slipping. The reverse gear, the shift cam and the rest of the parts were fine. At that time it seems as if the shift shaft had skipped a notch.
I put the lower unit back and synchronize it to the remote control as I have always successfully done several times before. Then I had no problem going forward, but the reverse will spin. I took the boat out of the water and shifted multiple times and confirmed that the reverse will properly engaged only after I have pull that level way back. Of course, that will be too much throttle.

I took the lower unit off and make marks in the shift shaft. These marks show when the clutch is on forward, neutral and reverse. The neutral is the middle mark. The forward and reverse marks seem to be at the same distance. I “guess” that should be ok and makes sense to me. (In retrospect, I should have done the same on the shaft that comes down and engage to the shift shaft but I did not.)
It made me think that maybe when the control handle was moved for the reverse somehow there is some play and it is not really moving it far enough. I rigged some ropes to be able to actuate the control handle and the cable doesn’t seem to travel abnormally. I enlisted this rig to sync the control handle and the clutch.
I have come to an almost happy medium. When the control handle is in neutral position so does the clutch. If I go forward with the control handle, it seem to engage the forward gear normally, but when I retract it to the neutral position the clutch will still be engaged in the forward gear. I have to actually travel a bit, not quite an inch to disengage the forward gear. When it disengages, with a knock sound, then I can forward the control handle to the neutral position and will remain neutral. I can pull the control handle and the reverse seems to engage properly and will disengage when the control handle is at the proper neutral position.
I cannot find where the loose end is. Anyone has any suggestions? If I have time I will run the boat tomorrow. Maybe it will disengage properly under real load, but I doubt it.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I am starting to run out of ideas. Next step will be to take the power head out so I can see the entire shifting system. That is a lot of work and time but will do if nothing else works.

Thanks!

[Nandy]

Too much info, no enough info?

[Nandy]

Will try to run it in the lake this weekend and see if it shift properly.

[MercFan]

I wish I could help

[Nandy]

Thanks MercFan, no problem. I havent ride the boat yet, kinda busy weekend. But I have the feeling is not set up properly and the only way I will find what is going on is taking the power head out. Which im trying to avoid... We shall see.