Shift Rod adjustment

[captmello]

On my 2001 90 hp 2 stroke, my shift rod seems too short. When I first bought the boat I wanted to change out the water pump. However, I couldn't get the shift rod to release from the linkage under the powerhead. Since it was my first outboard, I got the help of a mobile mechanic. He had to fight it a bit, but got it loose. While he was there he showed me how to change the impeller. Anyway, we checked the shift rod adjustment and it we couldn't get it long enough without it unscrewing all the way and coming out, so we set it out as far as we felt comfortable, but with only a few threads holding the rod, I was concerned. Once it was reassembled he helped adjust the shift cable and all was well. I forgot about it for a few years, but last year I remembered and asked the parts guy at the dealer about it being short. He said they come in 5 inch different lengths and that most likely something is out of adjustment.
What could be out of adjustment that could cause this issue? The short rod makes it hard to remove and install the lower and is only held in by a couple of threads.
thanks!

 

[racerone]

????-------How did you adjust the shift rod ??-----There is an axact way to measure it.--Post the dimension that you used !------Outline what you did.---No way do you assemble this where you are " comfortable " with it.------There are some subtle differences between models as to the shift rod height.---Picture of your gearcase helps too.------The " short rod " should have no affect on the difficulty of this job either.----Are you working with a factory manual??

 

[captmello]

At the time I was using a clymer manual, but I checked and it matches the factory manual for the height adjustment. Unfortunately, its been a few years since we did the work so I can't remember exactly what we did. I was trusting that the mechanic knew what he was doing. when we couldn't get the proper length, he shrugged his shoulders. It seems to me that it was measuring half an inch short. Being short it causes the rod to stick in the hole of the linkage at the top, and when we reassembled, he had to reach in with a pliers to manually lift the rod a bit to get it into the hole in the linkage. It has worked perfectly since. No shifting issues ever. Maybe we were measuring wrong...

 

[racerone]

But ---the shift rod height is measured to the centre of the hole.-----Then no other adjustments are to be made.----On assembly you may need to move the shift shaft to line up the hole for the pin.-----Nothing needs to be " adjusted " to line it up.