Nissan 5 hp 4 stroke, locked in reverse after reattaching shift linkage.

[khoonie]

I removed the lower unit on my 4 stroke 5 hp nissan and replaced the impeller, put it back together, but now it will not shift out of reverse (that is the gear I left it in for the repair). The shift rod that goes into the gearbox seemed frozen, so I took the LU off again. The drive shaft turns the prop forward and back ok. The shift rod will move up and down, maybe an inch, but it has no effect on the drive shaft/propeller movement. Could I have disengaged something ( like the pinion gear? in the gearbox? Help!!@

 

[khoonie]

(Excuse the 2 thread titles. I tried to edit the first one for clarity and instead of an edit, it posted the second one.)
-> More info... I know now it should not be the gears, but could the cam (shift) rod be turned into the wrong orientation? I removed it and put it back in, in the proper orientation, but that has not seemed to have affected anything as far as prop/shaft movement is concerned - in other words, pulling the cam (shift) rod up or down does not seem to affect anything after I did that. The lower unit is still removed.

 

[khoonie]

Another added note. I saw the thread about how it would not shift into reverse unless it is running. It also said you can turn the prop when it's on a stand and it will shift. I tried turning the propeller while trying to shift it out of reverse and that did not work. I was afraid to try to shift while it was running - I was worried I would damage the gears.

 

[Sea Rider]

The motor must be turned ON to shift. Sit motor on top transom or stand and rotate flywheel CW while shifting F. Never shift with motor OFf or will end screwing the gear lever.....Bad Music!!

Happy Boating​

 

[khoonie]

Thanks! This is a crank start, so after it is back together and on a transom, I put the throttle in start position, (plug disconnected) turn the flywheel CW and shift out of reverse to neutral. Does that sound right?

 

[Sea Rider]

Crank start is an electric start motor right ? Sinply disconnect the red lanyard from the switch and manually turn the flywheel slowly CW while engaging forward....

Happy Boating​

 

[khoonie]

Ok I will try it this afternoon. Thank you.

 

[khoonie]

Ok, so I have it back together, and by turning the drive shaft by hand, I got it into neutral briefly. However, it still will not go into forward gear on the shift lever (where you shift when running), but when I started the engine in neutral and shifted into reverse, the prop was turning to propel forward, not reverse. I tried adjusting travel on the shift rods joint (in photo) but the rod going into the gearcase only moves a 1/2 inch at most and no matter where I attach the joint to the rod going into the engine, the rod going into the gearbox will not engage to change gears properly. Any ideas? What does the cam on the end of cam rod push against in the gearbox when changing gears? Could that be a cause of the problem?

 

[pvanv]

I usually set the LU in N and the shift lever in N and then tighten the coupler. Sounds like your coupler is still off a bit.

 

[khoonie]

I guess I will have to start over with the LU off because I cannot get to the shift rods joint if I move any furthur on the rods. The joint would be too far away from the hole for me to reach it. It just seems to me that if the cam rod were working correctly, it would travel more than a half inch when I spin the shaft and try to move it up or down. I dont know how the cam on the bottom of the cam rod works - changing between forward, reverse and neutral gears - but it sure doesnot move much. If it only moves a half inch, then I guess I will just have to keep fiddling with that half inch movement in order to find that perfect 1/16 of an inch location within that one-half inch tolerance. That is all I know to do at this point.

 

[km1125]

I think the cam rod moves about a full inch from fwd to rev, or 1/2 in from fwd to neutral then another 1/2 inch from neutral to reverse.

Are you sure the cam rod is oriented the right way? The machined side of the rod should be facing towards the prop. If it's twisted to a different orientation then you won't be able to get it out of rev, no matter is the shift rod is raised or lowered.

You can ALWAYS shift from being in-gear to neutral regardless if the engine is running or not of if the shaft is being turned or not. You might not be able to shift from neutral to either fwd or rev unless either the prop or the crank is being turned. You can TRY to shift, BUT JUST DON'T FORCE IT because if it won't shift into fwd or rev then the "dogs" aren't aligned. Move the prop a bit or turn the crank and try again.

The service manual recommends putting the lower unit and shift control in reverse when removing/reinstalling the lower unit.

Here's an image of what the shift shaft looks like where it goes into the lower unit:

 

[khoonie]

Thank you. That info is very helpful. It verifies the shift shaft travel distance and its proper orientation.I am going to take the LU back off again in order to make sure the shift shaft is oriented properly. I also need to check the joint connecting the two rods. All the jiggeling I did to get the LU back on last time caused the bolt on that connection joint to fall out.I think I may have reversed the position of the 2 rods with respect to the grooves on the connection joint when I put it back on. That may have caused the bolt to be harder to access when adjusting it through the hole. Once I have done these two things I will put the LU back on and try adjusting the joint connection again. However, I am leaving on Friday for a fishing trip, so I may not get it done until I get back. I will follow up here when I do. Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[pvanv]

Distinct possibility if the cam is oriented the right way that you have neen in F the whole time.

 

[Sea Rider]

Disassembling and assembling back the lower leg it's a straightforward operation. Have you removed the clutch cam and cam rod out of the lower leg ? If so must reinstall it back as per the drawing.

If you set the lower rod in neutral (prop must spin freely) and the upper lever at neutral too, when both rods sits well aligned onto the shift rod joint (metal square) is it posible for the retaining bolt to remain at middle of the round window for an easy access ? if so adjust tight the bolt and voila. Don't loosen the bolt too much prior both rod's alignment, just enough for both to rest well aligned in place...

Happy Boating​