Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

Hello all,

Well, to get to the nitty gritty, I have a 1980 115 Evinrude V4 (E115TLCSA) and have been recently been having some shift issues. It began with the motor having a hard time shifting into gear (seemed to skip a few times before it would fully engage). After occurring 3-4 times I lost all shifting ability. After further investigation it was discovered that the shift rod lever was missing (I mean completely gone and of course while on vacation) and having none of the tools to take care of it I had to take it into a shop. Upon getting the cruiser back we hit the water. The motor shifted great for a few days and then one morning we went out and had lost all shifting ability again! Vacation being nearly done we just trailered it and said pi$$ on it.

Back at home I was able to get at it myself. As you can see from the first 2 pictures below, the shift rod lever was broken and I assume that the 1st time that it happened it was the same issue. The 3rd picture is where the shift lever attaches to the shift cables and there seems to be a LOT of play here (play at the arrow). The 4th picture shows the shift lever (green) and shift rod (purple) where the shift rod lever should be. A couple of questions for anyone willing to assist...



1. Is this a common issue? I can't believe that 2 would break so close together
2. What could cause this issue? I replaced the lower unit oil at the beginning of the season (metal and water free) and upon having this problem I changed it again (and again, metal and water free) so I don't think that the gears are going
3. Is there supposed to be a cotter pin or something on this model keeping the shift lever from having so much play?

PLEASE, if you have any suggestions on things to check or try please let me know! I don't want to just replace the broken part just to have it break because of a separate, undiagnosed issue. Thanks for your time!

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

Usually those shift levers (clievis) are pretty hardy. Unusual to see that type of failure. Possible it was overtorqued, causing it to fracture. Since the shift lever is half-moon shaped, you don't need a lot of bolt torque to secure the clevis onto the lever. Ditto for the screw pin. Could be due to mis-adjustment of the lower unit shift rod. Double check the length of the lower unit shift rod. It is supposed to be set to a very specific height measurement.

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

I thank you very much for your time and your reply. That'll be very helpful and I'll check the height out before I put things back together.

emdsapmgr said:

Usually those shift levers (clievis) are pretty hardy. Unusual to see that type of failure. Possible it was overtorqued, causing it to fracture.

That's part of the reason that I am suspicious that there's something else going on... I can see the replacement being over-torqued but why would the original one have broke? It's been years since it was touched at all (last time was the last water pump change 4+ years ago). How hard is it supposed to be to shift the lower unit by hand? After I removed the lower unit I tried with just one hand (of course covered in grease and oil) and in went into both forward and reverse with relatively low difficulty. What about the horizontal play in the shift lever (picture 3 on original post)? Is there supposed to be any play here or a pin holding things in place?

I'm just throwing out things that crossed my mind and if you can eliminate anything please fill me in. I just want to be thorough and do everything right! The last thing that I want to do is rush to get it back together, miss something, and have to tear everything apart again. Any further recommendations are appreciated!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

Any input or suggestions from anyone else? I am completely open to advice or helpful hints in regards to this issue.

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

That could happen if you're shifting with the motor NOT running. If you absolutely must move the shift handle with the motor not running, have someone move the propeller to allow the shift dog to properly seat. If that isn't done, the high points on the dog hit the high points on the gear, with stress being transmitted through the shift linkage to the shift rod, to the lever, to the bellcrank, to the cable. Depending on how tight the parts are fitting, the stress may be enough to expose the weakest link in the chain, in your case, the shift lever/connector. Could even happen inadvertantly if a kid is playing in the boat and pretends to "drive" by moving the throttle, etc.

Bottom line, it is always best to shift with the motor running and avoid doing so when the motor is not running...

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

That clevis is really hard to get at when changing the impeller. Perhaps a prior owner used some type of pry bar/lever on it, not knowing just how it came apart. Any abuse might have started a fracture in the clevis and it just now appeared. Could also have been a manufacturing defect.

Re: Broken Shift rod lever, possible causes?

Thank you very much for the time and replies. I'm not going to be able to get to it until this weekend but I guess as a summary...

-Check/make sure the shift rod height is correct
-Be careful of the torque of the bolts on the clevis itself (don't over-tighten)
-Adjust cables
-Ensure that is does NOT get shifted unless running

Anything to check before putting it back together?