1975 Mercury 650 won't shift into forward?

[General0]

Hello,

My 1975 mercury 650 will not shift into forward but will go into reverse? I haven't run it but when I was moving the shift lever throught the motions it would not go forward?
I know this has something to do with when the water pump/ impeller was replaced before I got it but not sure how to fix it?

The previous owner said that they had the water pump replaced and afterwards it never shifted correctly? Could have been damaged if it was run with it in this condition?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Mercury 650 won't shift into forward?

General, It is possible the shift shaft was lined up improperly when the LU was reinstalled after waterpump repair. If the motor never shifted into forward, I doubt it would have been used much.

First find out if the control box is working properly. Disconnect the shift cable (bottom cable on port side of motor). Now move the shift arm back and forth and check the prop shaft (engine off!!!) to see what gears you have. If it wont go into forward, or if forward to too far forward for the chift cable to engage it, you will need to drom the LU to investigate. The best way to align the shafts is to put LU into neutral, put control box into neutral, and then reassemble motor.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: 1975 Mercury 650 won't shift into forward?

Adding. Once the lower unit is off, grasp the shift shaft and the propeller. Slowly rotate the shift shaft and put pressure on the prop (so that it will lock in if it wants to) and get the feel for the position of the shift shaft vs FNR rotation of the prop. F (prop rotation) will lock in one direction and click in the other; N rotates freely (obviously), and R locks both directions. Don't force it as R gears have to be lined up for it to slide in whereas F will find it's own.

Then as Chris said, put it in the center of the range (N) and with the remote there also (center of it's range) you are good to go.

Be sure that the water outlet tube from the (top of the) water pump engages the hole in the bottom of the powerhead so that cooling water goes where it's supposed to upon reinstalling the lower unit. I use a pair of long nosed pliers to slightly rotate the prop shaft or you could pull on the crank rope to slightly rotate the powerhead to get the driveshaft splines to line up. Shift shaft is much easier to line up as you can see what you are doing.

Mark