1967 Mercury Thunderbolt 950 SS stuck in Forward

[cfaurote]

Here's where I'm at. New to boat motors. This is my first boat project. I got the motor running... however, it's stuck in forward. I disconnected the control cables, and manually moved the shifter and it moves freely with the motor running, and will not change gears. Pulled the LU. seem to be able to distinguish between F/N/R on the shift shaft. I pulled the water pump cover and impeller, just to free up some resistance, and no matter where I have the shift shaft set, if I move the drive shaft CW, the prop moves CW, and if I move it CCW the prop shaft goes CCW. If I hold the prop shaft to keep it from spinning and turn the drive shaft CCW it clicks. Can seem to find neutral to where the prop shaft won't turn. Hope this makes sense. Hard to write out what I'm experiencing. Help please!
I've rebuilt the distributer and water pump thinking I was done and ready to test on the water.... now very discouraged with this problem. But excited to learn more about it!

 

[racerone]

Simple steps to follow---Put control in nuetral.------Turn the shift shaft CCW on the lower unit till you find nuetral...---Some effort may be required to compress a strong spring on the clutch dog.----When you find nuetral install the lower unit.-----------They like to go to forward ( strong spring ) from even a slight bump.--So check that it is in nuetral before bolting it up.----And when it is in forward you should be able to turn the prop CW and it will click.--Turning the prop CCW should lock it up.

 

[cfaurote]

Racerone, thanks for the quick reply. How hard should it be to get the shift shaft to turn??? Like get out the pliers hard, or just pressure with the fingers hard. I start out by moving the shift shaft CW quite a ways until it stops, then turn it CCW until I feel a little resistance and then some slop, then go on more CCW till more resistance than slop again. That's what I'm doing anyway. Should I get out some pliers and try to get it to go farther CCW?

 

[cfaurote]

And actually, fooling with the shift shaft a little more, I turn it CW as far as it goes, the as I turn it back CCW, there seems to be a grinding resistance, but no definite click. Once past that resistance, it loosens up. and turn more CCW and there is a definite click, a little slop, then stops. So one gear change for sure, or seems to be, but everything stays in forward gear.

 

[racerone]

???------Why are you turning the shift shaft CW ?---Post # 2 does not mention to do that.----Just follow the steps in post # 2 and it will work for you.

 

[cfaurote]

I got it in neutral. It took some force to get it there, and I was being too tentative at first, not wanting to snap anything. Now that that's done, what position should that white reverse locking cam be in? I took it off while fooling around. Or will it get into position correctly when put back together?
Thanks again for your help!

 

[merc850]

Reverse lock

 

[cfaurote]

cool! thanks merc 850!

 

[cfaurote]

Ok guys. trying to put the lower unit back together today. Of course the water inlet tube always gives me fits, but I've never had this much problem before. I think I have the tube seeded properly, but have about a finger's wide gap left, and it won't go together. Been messing with it for two hours. It is in neutral, and the shifter on the motor is in neutral. I've read that you can also put it in reverse and turn the prop to get spines to line up. BUT... I cannot get the shift shaft into reverse. I have forward and neutral, but it won't budge CCW any more past neutral. and I'm putting pretty good force on it. Ideas? I'm thinking the shift shaft grooves aren't lining up with the upper unit tube, and that's what binding? Of course I can't really see how they line up as I'm holding the unit together. Also tired budging the shifter on the motor a little to try to get it to turn, but the two halves still won't go together. Sorry... long winded... I'm frustrated.