Re: 40 merc shifting trouble
The standard Mercury shifter is a cam detent with a cam detent follower on the prop shaft to execute the command. The cam is geared to the shift shaft and has the 3 positions. Yes trying to turn the shift spline by hand is near impossible. I use a set of vise grip pliers as you can lock them on till finished. All 3 detents are easily detectible with N being the most pronounced....shortest range of circular movement before the cam follower moves out of the cam slot.
I don't think the 95ish time frame was the time for drastic model changes and surely not in lower units unless you may be changing from the old 4 cylinder design to a 3 cyl where there MIGHT be one. However, from the standpoint of controls, Merc has 2 standard remote controls for most average smaller boats....up through 150 or so hp, and it's the Commander 2000 for outside the bulkhead mounting and 3000 for behind the bulkhead mounting. With that said, there is no change up in where F and R are.
Somewhere in the back of my mind is the fact that the shifters on the old engines.....40-50's, maybe into the '60's, before the current remotes mentioned, shifted backwards. Back then the remote shift lever had the pivot in the middle with the handle on one end of the lever and the cable on the other. In the today's shifters the pivot is on the end of the lever with the cable attached part way up and the handle on the end. This made shifting in the opposite direction as you mentioned.
HTH,
Mark
