Yamaha L4 3.0 sterndrive won't shift to neutral or reverse

dilkington

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Jun 18, 2013
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Went to put my boat in the lake and found I couldn't shift to reverse. When I try to move the throttle into reverse it won't budge. I can go into forward, but when I do I can't shift into neutral. I took the outdrive apart to see if I could see what the problem is. When I got the outdrive off I was able to move the throttle into reverse. I put the outdrive back on loosely and I could still move the throttle to reverse. But as soon as I tighten the bolts a little it gets harder and harder to move it into reverse. Once I get the outdrive tightened up and back on I can no longer shift into reverse. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. From what I have found online I am thinking it's got to be something with the shift fork (I think that's what its called, its the little brass V where a rod fits in.) Am I on the right track at all?

I had a mechanic look at it and he said I would have to totally dismantle the lower overdrive to see why it won't shift. The problem is I don't have a good diagram or exploded view of the outdrive and I don't want to try to take it apart without a good diagram showing all the parts in an exploded view, anyone know where I could get my hands on something like that?
 
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