Re: 1988 110horse johnson
The shifting mechanism is in the lower unit. Specifically, the clutch dog. It is not a real clutch. The shifting is actually a hard collision of the clutch dog with the protrusions on the gear face. For long gear/clutch life, best to make sure your engine idles normally to minimize the normal impact wear on the gears and clutch dog when shifted. When you change the lower unit gear oil annually, you may find small metal shavings on the magnetic lower drain plug screw. That's normal.
