Tohatsu 8HP..impeller change out

[bigmac]

Changed out the old water cooling impeller on my Tohatsu 8HP and pulling the lower unit off was easy, putting new impeller w/ keyway was done but now I can't seem to slide it all back together. Something seems to be hanging up and leaves assembly 1" short of fitting back in place and be bolted back together. Could it be the Gear change linkage? When I put pressure on the assembly to pull together, the lever is changing from Forward to reverse status. Can anybody shed light on what I am failing to do?

 

[ICEMAN]

Re: Tohatsu 8HP..impeller change out

Hi, You mentioned that the shift mechanism is moving the lever. I would suspect that you have dislodged the shift rod from the push rod, which changes the gears. You may have pulled the shift rod up, allowing the push rod to come out and sit under the shift rod. The push rod does have a spring behind it. It will not let the shift rod move down. Sometimes you can force it, but that might cause a more serios problem, I would remove the prop shaft to line it up. Drain the oil from the lower unit, remove the prop, remove the two screws holding the prop shaft housing. Remove the housing and prop shaft in one piece. Slide the shift shaft down and put the propshaft housing back in. You should change the "o" ring. install the two bolts, then try to install the lower unit. After it's together, check the shifting, then fill the lower unit with oil and you should be all set.