Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

[midnight2000]

Thanks for reading - I hope someone can help me out. The lower unit on my mercury wont drop down. I have read all the threads about the same problem and tried everything sugested in those threads. Rags around screwdrivers, hitting with mallet, pulling and rocking you name it. I have a photo and the 'A' points to where it seems to stick as you can rock it slightly and it pivots at this point. By the way it is a Mercury 50, Brown Band 1985 2 stroke 4 cyl and at the moment I hate it!

The is a small hole just under the cav plate right at the front (one hole on one side and two on the other side) I have no idea what these are, any ideas?

Thanks......

 

[JCF350]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

Assuming your shift shaft is disconnected.
The drive shaft is probably "frozen" in the end of the crankshaft. Try to get some penetrating oil up there and work it for a couple days. Be patient because if it don't come loose the next step ain't gonna fun or cheap.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

The vertical shaft splines are stuck in the crankshaft, it can be a real bear to get apart!

 

[midnight2000]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

Thanks so far, having never lowered the bottom case before I am in at the deep end so to speak. I have read about the shift shaft been disconnected first but only if there are no splines on the drive shaft. I have no idea how to disconect the shift shaft or indeed if I need to. How do I tell and if I do need to, how do I disconected the shift shaft? (and where is it?)
Please be gentle with me and dont worry about stating the obvious, it is not obvious to me lol..

RAR.

 

[JCF350]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

Go buy a service manual!! Get from the dealer or order it from Mercury online.
http://mercurymarine.com/shoponline/index.php
select the parts express

 

[midnight2000]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

Mmmm Nothing like stating the obvious... I have a service manual on order but with a three week delivery time to the uk and me hoping to use the boat this week I actually though someone might just be able to help me fit this new impeller before the manual arrived... Guess not...

 

[JCF350]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

1st rule of boating is planning and forethought. Itchy britches will just get you in trouble. There is other maintenance and checking that needs to be done also, both motor and boat.

Your attempting to do something without the knowledge. First obtain the knowledge then ask questions when you run into trouble. If you've followed any of the threads "get a service manual" comes up quite a bit.

We ARE here to help.

PS: Model and serial numbers are really nice to have also.

 

[FLOATY]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

I understand your frustration. On the home page of iboats.com you can go to the maintence and manuals category. You will find Merc manuals for $29.00 bucks and have a 3 day UPS delivery for another six bucks or so. I did this last week and recieved mine in two days. Good Luck

 

[Doug Redinger]

Re: Lower Unit - Held by an invisible force

Can't speak as to your model specifically, but I have an older Mercury 85 h.p. from the 1960's and It has 2 allen head screws at the very aft end of the lower unit. One holds the zinc trim tab in place and the other threads up from the lower unit into the midsection. I have in the past forgot about this second allen head screw when trying to remove the lower unit. Good luck to you!!