2003 Yamaha 225 4 stroke stiff shifter

[mr300z87]

Hi all, I am posting for my friend as he is not computer literate, my boats have been I/O I mainly hang in the mercruiser section and restoration forums. My friend has a 225 Yamaha 4 stroke and has owned it since new. He being and airline mechanic by trade has maticulusly maintained it. The last time I drove the boat I had mentioned how stiff it was going in and out of gear. As part of preseason prep we decided to troubleshoot, first we disconnected both cables shifter was smooth, reconnect throttle only shifter also smooth, connect both shifter tight. Disconnect shift cable again and I can easily shift from forward and reverse by pushing on the shaft the cable connects to. I almost seem like the mechanism is binding up when shifted by the cable. Attached is the image of the shift mechanism I am referring is part 22 and 8 what seem to bind.
in the next couple days we are going to work on it some more and probably pull the lower unit and see how the shifter feels. Has anyone ever seen this before. I will post our findings after lower unit removal. One last note is we did the exhaust replacement on this engine a few years ago and had the entire thing apart including the power head removal and all the internal shift shaft parts were in good working condition and my memory says it was no different before this. As always any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[robert graham]

Does your shifter control have a friction screw on it that could be adjusted too tight?

 

[First Draft]

More than likely it is the seal where the shifting rod goes down into the lower unit. The metal will often corrode around the seal and swell up and cause stiff shifting. Drop the lower unit and inspect it carefully where the shift rod and linkage goes down into the lower unit. On my Suzuki it was not a do-it-yourself job because some special tools were required to remove the lower unit gearing and hub.