Re: Hard to put in forward gear after water pump replacement
Willi..... The term of "Manual shift" pertains to any engine that has its shifting mechanism operated either by a remote shift cable (such as what your engine has) or by actually moving a external shift lever (various smaller hp engines) on the engine by hand.<br /><br />Since the shifting was fine on both forward and reverse before the water pump was installed, something has been obviously installed incorrectly.... or damage has been caused to some area of the shifting mechanism.<br /><br />Nothing has been said about dismantling the lower unit, so I also assume that the gears etc have not been removed etc, and that all the internal components are in their original location/position.<br /><br />The water pump is far removed from the shift linkage, so even if it was possible to install that upside down (a little humor), it would have absolutely no effect on the shifting. That leaves the "Shift Rod", "Shift Lever Connector" (under the bottom carburetor), and the "Remote Control Cables".<br /><br />1 - If the remote control cables were not adjusted correctly (one or the other being too tight), that would create a great amount of tension when shifting. If this exists, it should create a problem when shifting into either gear, but weird things do happen. Something worth checking into. To check, simply disconnect the cables from the engine, then check the shifting at the engine by hand... and also check the movement of the remote control for binding.<br /><br />2 - The shift lever connector (under the bottom carb) is something I cannot visualize having a problem with. There is no way it can be put together wrong, nor can it be connected to the shift rod wrong. However, take a look at it to see if anything is interfering with the movement of it. It's possible that something (piece of grommet etc) could have been shoved up there.<br /><br />3 - The shift rod is something that is always suspect. With the lower unit off, the shift rod can be very easily bent which would of course would cause binding. If this is the case, the problem should still exist when shifting the engine by hand as listed in paragraph #1.<br /><br />Let us know what you find.
