Please help, really hard to put into and out of gear 2006 90 HP Mercury

Hello,

I am a new boat owner so I hope this isn't a noob question.

I have a 2006 Pro Line 17' with a 2006 Mercury 90 DFI engine. Boat has 268 hours on it and I bought it after it was sitting for 2 years. Got it running and it goes good on the water but have the following problem:

Shifting from neutral to forward, it is kinda hard to put into gear. Then when I want to take it out and put it into neutral it is really hard. If i try and put it in reverse I hear what sounds like the linkage clanging around and I really have to push it hard before it goes into reverse. SO needless to say I avoided reverse at all costs on its first water voyage. I took it home and started looking into it. I am very mechanically inclined so I am more than comfortable working on the engine.

1. Do you think the cables just need to be adjusted? Lubed maybe?
2. Is it bad / harder to shift into and out of gear with the boat out of the water and not running? It seems much harder in my driveway than it did on the water.
3. What are some things I can check? I thought about disconnecting the cables to see if it was the cables that are binding or the linkage assembly but it looks like a production to get them off. It appears I need to pull the oil tank off to get at them good.

ANY help is greatly appreciated, and I hate for my first post to be looking for something that giving but I am not quite sure I am fit to give advice yet haha.

Re: Please help, really hard to put into and out of gear 2006 90 HP Mercury

Lube and inspection of moving parts is a good idea.Check idle not too high when trying to shift,and shifting should be made swiftly to keep dog clutch happy.

Re: Please help, really hard to put into and out of gear 2006 90 HP Mercury

Thank you for that I really appreciate it.

Can you tell me if it is supposed to shift in and out of gear the same whether it's running or not?

Lets put it this way, for me to shift into reverse from neutral right now with it not running, i would pretty much have to hang off the controls to get it into gear.

Re: Please help, really hard to put into and out of gear 2006 90 HP Mercury

Okay, I disconnected the shifter cable from the linkage at the motor and the controls work smooth. So its not the cable or controls (I am actually kind of worried now I was hoping it was a cable issue).

So the only other thing I noticed was where the cable bolts to the top of the linkage its what looks like a long bolt that goes through a plastic slider. On the bottom of that goes to a metal lever that rotates the forward/reverse engagement thing (sorry don't know the term for it but its a metal rod that rotates and goes into the lower unit). Anyways the plastic thing that slides forward and backward (see picture) has some play in it up and down. When I had my wife put the boat in gear and out while holding this thing up tight so there is no play the shifter is much smoother as in 75% easier for forward. Reverse is still very difficult.

Should this have any play in it?