85 Mercury Outboard - no neutral or reverse

dhacker1282 · #1 July 24th, 2009, 03:31 PM

Hey folks. I swapped out the impeller/waterpump pieces in my 35HP Mercury Outboard (Serial number A185900). This is the first I've ever done this, and am new to outboard motors. Since I've done that, my prop shaft only ratchets clockwise, regardless of the gear it is in. It worked fine before I tore into it. All the cables/linkages appear to be working fine. I have two theories...

1 - I had it in drive when I pulled the lower unit, and possibly had it in neutral when I re-installed.

2 - I used the Mercury service manual to put it back together. It suggests I need more parts than what I pulled off (or at least I think I pulled off). I could have lost a couple, but seems unlikely, as I was extremely careful. The manual indicates I need a nylon washer (appears to have a goiter - keyed), and a reverse cam lock on the top side of the lower shift shaft. I do not recall seeing these pieces at all when disassembling.

Thoughts???

Thanks!

Chris1956 · #2 July 24th, 2009, 04:27 PM

I do not have direct experience on that motor, so I cannot comment on the missing parts question.

What you are experiencing with the missing neutral and reverse is common after dropping the gearcase. I recommend you drop the lower unit again, and set the control and gearcase to neutral, and reinstall it.

arsenalpsu · #3 July 24th, 2009, 04:39 PM

I dropped the lower until on my old Chrysler and Merc. and did the same thing the first time. Make sure both are in neutral and before you screw the bolts down shift to make sure the prop spins free in neutral and locks when it's in F & R.

dhacker1282 · #4 July 24th, 2009, 06:50 PM

Thanks for the replies. Anyone have an idea on how I go about putting the gearcase in nuetral? There's just the lower shift shaft. I did try turning it by hand, to no avail.

Chris1956 · #5 July 25th, 2009, 10:07 AM

The lower shiftshaft is difficult to turn from froward to neutral. Use a small cresent wrench on the base of the shiftshaft to coax it into neutral. Be careful not to mess up the splines.

dhacker1282 · #6 August 3rd, 2009, 05:46 PM

SUCCESS!!!!!!! I put both the remote control and the lower unit into neutral, and was done in 15 minutes! Thanks so much for the help guys.