1969 mercury 800 (80hp) 4cyl Lower Unit Removal

[Kcarring]

I'm trying to get at my water pump.
1. Do i want to be in forward gear when removing the lower unit?
2. Does the trim tab anode bolt (I think it's 10M hex?) Need to be removed too, down in that hole?
3. Should I use locktite on pump nuts/bolts

Thanks

 

[jimmbo]

1) that is usually what is done
2) The Trim Tab has to be taken off. But the bolt can stay where it is. If you remove it, once you have dropped the Lower Unit, the Bolt is very easy to remove.
3) Any nuts holding the Pump to the Gear Case will likely be Nylock type nuts, no need for Lock-Tite on them

 

[racerone]

There may be a bolt / nut hidden by the trim tab.

 

[Kcarring]

Thankyou for the tips guys. Got the pump rebuilt.

I'm not sure what to call parts, so I'll call the piece in my hand the "guide". Having troubles getting the lower unit back together I'm thinking the shaft splines for the (transmission?) At the rear of the lower unit, are not meshing up. Before I got started, I put the shifter on the control in forward. Should I move the shifter to help line up? I'm kind of scared to. I don't think it's the main long drive shaft that's not lining up, because when I pushed it up into the upper the seal is still a few inches above the pump, and I can visual the splined shaft not going up into place at the same time as the travel stops. Hmm.

Ps.
I figured out that the guide needed to go in first, all the way... but even when I try without the guide, using a stick...so I can visualize, I still can't get it to mate up/fit in

PpS.
I found a sticky post that may explain what to do. What do you think, should I do this procedure. Post is shown as a screen grab in image #2

 

[jimmbo]

That 'Guide'. is the cam/actuator for the Reverse Lock. The splines on the Shift Shaft components are configured in such a way that they are supposed to fit only one way.
I dropped the Gearcases on my inline 6s many times, and I never had any issues of getting them back together properly. Sometimes I put them in Forward, other times I left them in Neutral. I just made sure not to rotate the shaft in the Gearcase, or move the Control Lever.

 

[Dave1027]

My Mercury service manual states to engage forward gear before removing the lower unit.

 

[racerone]

Forward works because when removed in NEUTRAL the lower unit jumps into forward when you sneeze.----Then the mismatch when assembling.-----If you remove in neutral , you have to make 100% sure lower is in neutral when assembling.