Need lower unit help 1988 Merc 45

[k5blazerboy]

So on the lake yesterday, I was going through a slow no wake area, went from forward to neutral to reverse, and never engaged reverse, then never engaged forward. There was no catastrophic boom or nothing, just nothing happened. Got home tore off the lower unit, and found the two cylindrical splined pieces of plastic I have in the picture just laying in the bottom, so I need help identifying those. And also my reverse locking cam has a piece of metal that appears to be all sorts of bent up. The cables are working fine, when I look up the shaft rotates as it should. I am really hoping that there is just a problem in the shift linkage. Also, when we drained the oil, the magnet had tiny shavings, and no chunks fell out as well as nothing seems to be loose.

I should also add that it spun in reverse both directions. forward 1 direction

 

[k5blazerboy]

Re: Need lower unit help 1988 Merc 45

I figured out where everything went, bought a brand new reverse cam, bought some LU oil and reassembled it. And it still free spins in reverse but not in forward. Something is messed up in the gear housing I presume. I don't have the tools nor the money to fix anything in there. Baffles me why I didn't get any chunks out of the lower unit. I have blown a couple truck rear ends in my day, and this is basically the same concept with an outboard, so I know what carnage there should be with blown gears. Anything, anybody? I tried to figure it out, but to no avail.

 

[k5blazerboy]

Re: Need lower unit help 1988 Merc 45

So I know that the lower unit is junk, anyone know of any to fit this motor? It is a 1988 45hp long shaft. I cannot nor could my mechanic find any serial stamps on this motor.