Re: No neutral when running
Sorry I took so long in getting back, but the update is good. I removed the lower unit, connected a drill to the top of the shaft (low torque setting), put some emulsified oil/water down the grommet, and had a friend man the drill while I operated the shift rod. I found that in the position that should be neutral, I could stop the prop with some effort, i.e., a gear was not driving it, and in the upper position and lower position of the shift rod, the prop could not be stopped. I opened the gear box, cleaned everything with parts cleaner, moved everything around, back and forth and so on. I did not feel any resistance with any of the parts while doing this, but when finished I did find a couple of black plastic pieces about the size of a fingernail clipping in the bottom of the housing. The shift rod was slightly bent in several places which did not make a lot of sense to me as it is pretty much a straight shot after coming out of the box, so I pounded the bends out using a piece of train rail I use as an anvil, put everything back together and ran the same test as above with the drill, and found that the prop was no longer turning in the neutral position of the shift rod. After reattaching the lower unit, sitting the motor back in the barrel of water, it's running (rough) just fine with no problem finding neutral. Not sure what really fixed the problem other than blind luck. I had a friend that used to tell me he would rather "be lucky than to be smart". I've done the rebuild kit on the carb so I've ordered parts to go through the ignition system and those parts should be here today.
Thanks for all the help!
