1989 Alpha 1 Gen 1 shift issues

[zellerj]

I separated the lower leg from the upper, and kept the upper on the boat, to change the water pump. When putting it back together, I had the lower leg gear in forward, and every time I lifted the leg to engage with the upper leg I heard a click, and the lower leg moved into neutral. I tried this numerous times, and could not keep the lower leg in forward. If I had the lower leg laying flat, with the gear in forward, and lifted it a few inches, I heard the click, and when I checked the prop shaft, it would spin freely in both directions.

So then I removed the upper leg from the bell housing, put the two together holding the lower leg vertical, and then installed on the bell housing.

My question is why did the lower leg slip out of gear so easily when I just picked it up a few inches?

Jim

 

[Bt Doctur]

to install a lower like that you put the lower shift shaft fully clockwise with prop locked CCW ,carefully raise the unit and start the front nut by 2 or 3 threads. Now locate the upper shoe and place it on the splined shaft.
slowly turn the prop CCW until the driveshaft splines mate up . tighten front nut just enough to start the side nuts. pushing lower unit up tighten side nuts first, then remaining nuts

 

[zellerj]

Thanks BT. Seems counter intuitive to lock it CCW and it is in forward which I equate with CW. However I am wrong, because when I put the splined shaft full CW, which locked the prop in a CCW direction and mated it with the upper, and put it on the bell housing, all shifted fine. A careful reading of Mercruiser manual number 6 also said the same about locking in CCW.