1984 Mercury 50hp FNR

Qbanredneck

Cadet
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
11
Hi all. I’ve read tons and tried tons but can’t find similar situation. I’ve tried dropping LU and reinstalling plenty of times, and also moving shift cables and so forth. Not sure when cables last replaced since bought boat recently. All gears worked at first, changed impeller, some lady bumped into boat motor with car ( but don’t see anything bent), the boat ran fine forward n neutral no reverse. Redid LU, took back out, reverse neutral fine but no forward. After numerous times trying different ways I’ve noticed one thing, the shift linkage is very difficult to move to forward position by hand with LU on even with cable disconnected. Once I drop the LU I can move the shift linkage fine to FNR. I’ve put Lu in forward reinstalled. It will shift into neutral and prop spins freely, but then won’t reengage to forward after that. Hope this makes sense as I’ve written and any help really appreciated. Thanks in advance
 

merc850

Commander
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
2,020
This is how I do it in about 60 sec.: 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 --
prop should spin freely.
Put control in N and go ahead and attach LU to driveshaft housing some turning of the flywheel will help the DS splines align.
Do not shift into reverse unless you turn the prop at the same time.
 

Qbanredneck

Cadet
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
11
Thanks for the reply, I ended up finding out through much trial and error that the reverse cam lock was busted. Ordered a new one and it fixed it right up.
 
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