1965 Mercury 65hp 650 shifting problem.

I recently inheited a 1965 mercury 650 65 HP motor. The motor starts right up with the turn of the key. As of right now the only issue I am having with this motor is it does not want to shift out of forward. I have removed the lower unit to make sure the shift rod is properly attached then put the motor back together and still no luck. I pulled the lower unit back off and attempted to turn the shift rod by hand to switch gears. The rod seem turned clock wise and counter clock wise smoothly without hassle but no matter how much i turned the rod back in forth could I get the propeller to spin freely or go in reverse, Just in forward and ratchet in reverse. Just looking for some advice here, am I missing something or doing something wrong. Thanks.

Re: 1965 Mercury 65hp 650 shifting problem.

If the shift shaft turns 360* without resistance you have pulled the shaft out of the cam in the lower unit. If not then follow these instructions: Turn the LU shift shaft by hand counter-clockwise until it
stops, then with Vise Grips tight on the bottom of the shaft turn it a
few more degrees CCW until it clicks into a stop, this
should be neutral - check by turning propshaft --
do not shift into reverse unless you turn the propshaft at the same time.
If it is in N go ahead and attach LU to driveshaft housing with control in N.