shift shaft problems

I have a 2002 Mercury v-200. I was having problems shifting so I took the cables off from the motor and they were smooth acting so I deducted that it is not them. Then I noticed the motor had moved about 1/2 aft - coming out of the lower motor mounts. well this has bent the shift rod and where it goes up in to the midsection it is bent and chafing there. that is where my resistance is coming from. well the motor mount retainer bolts are corroded and I rung two of those off, but they don't worry me so much. the mount bolts are corroded/seized to the yoke, so I will have to cut that off/and or use a torch to get the bolts out. so leastly i need new lower motor mount bolts, lower motor mounts and a new shift shaft. So my question is - How do I change the shift shaft?

Re: shift shaft problems

Pull the powerhead....

Re: shift shaft problems

fatzbullet, do you think a cherry picker (one that is used to do car motors) will be sufficient to do this type of job or would another method of picking it up serve better?

or does this border on the type of job I should let my local marine mechanic tackle? (I do have all of the other tools and am comfortable turning wrenches, but have never removed a powerhead from an outboard. car motors I have removed)