[scottrbishop]

Hey everyone,

I can't get my motor out of forward. I see the shift cable moving inside the engine, and it moves the little black piece that seems to run down to the LU. It looks like it's going as far back as it can, and as far forward. I have tried replacing the gear lube and adjusting the cable. Right now it's starting in gear and won't shift out of forward whether you move the control stick forward or in reverse. Moving throttle in reverse just keeps you in forward gear and revs the engine.

I'm using a Mercontrol box from a 1973 Mercury 850.

Any ideas to try? If I have to take off the lower unit I'm thinking it might be better to just take it to a shop.

[Derric]

I changed my water pump impeller today and when I put lower unit back in I moved that spline too far one way and thats all I had was forward gear. But, I took it back out lined those splines back up where it was in neutral and put it back together. Works fine. Its real simple if you have a manual. Saved me about 200$ in labor doing it myself.

[123turnier]

Hey guys,
Having same problem in reverse. I can't turn my prop by hand? Same with with you? I have a 1979. so it says. were is the best place to get a manual to do this work?

[123turnier]

oh...it may be a diffenent gear ratio in reverse

[Chris1956]

OK - The '73 controls will work with that '78 motor. It sounds like all of you have either misaligned the shift shaft, or have problem with the shift rod connector. OK, drop the lower units. Turn the shift shaft with a cresent wrench until it pops into neutral, set the MerControl to neutral and then make sure that when you turn the shift shaft CW from above, it goes into forward. Reset it to neutral and reinstall the LU.

[tredragon]

exactly. we see this a lot here (and I'm new!). Common to drop the lower unit and misalign the shift shaft when reconnecting everything. Put controls in neutral, drop lower unit, turn shift shaft (small splined shaft that comes out with lower unit when you drop it) a turn, check that prop spins freely in both directions. if not, another click, then spin prop.. .might have to try clockwise as well as counter clockwise depending on which way you misaligned it. once the prop spins freely in both directions, give it a click clockwise and make sure the prop will ONLY spin forward. If this is the case, click it back into neutral and carefully re-assemble. Before tightening everything completely, test controls and prop spin direction (motor off, by hand) to make sure you're still aligned properly.