Tohatsu MFS 3.5A HP 4 stroke. Shift Shaft Lever Question

[w2much]

AKA Mercury 3.5M. I recently came by a couple of these motors in which the shift handles, shift shaft lever, are frozen in place. I removed the lower unit to find the the lowers in working order for the most part.. I then removed the powerhead on one of them. I soaked and heated the shift shaft handle rod as the plastic handle was long gone, broken off,probably from trying to force the motor to shift as it became more and more frozen in place.I see that the shift shaft lever Tohatsu part # 3AB661300 is available to purchase as listed in the parts diagram I have been looking at. The problem I am having is removing the old one. It took a lot of heat and penetrant to get the thing to move in the first place. I figured at that point it should slide out. Not the case. I dont want to beat it as I will flare the ends. The heat has likely melted any O rings inside of the Gearcase driveshaft housing. I would think the shift shaft lever would slide out at this point, but not the case. I thought it may have been heat pressed into place but if so the O rings would not have withstood the heat upon the initial installation. So I am baffled. Before I start to pound it does any person have any suggestions as to how to replace the Shift Shaft Lever. Thank you for reading my post.

 

[pvanv]

Yes there are o-rings. It needs to greased well. Might have gotten salt in there. If it turns, you can pull it out with vise grips and a lot of wigglin

 

[w2much]

Gone are my days of hammer first. I could not see any other way to remove it than what I was doing except for possibly crafting an aluminum handle of sort connected to the rod which I can now turn but not remove. At this point I can hook it up to a drill and spin it while applying brake parts cleaner to break down the rubber and lubricant alternately. I was hoping you were around to reply. Your replies are always spot on.Thank you.

 

[w2much]

Just a follow up. With the drill tightened to the shaft I kept up the above. I probably had to charge the batteries on my cordless about 7 times. I confess I did use the hammer first and probably flared the end of the shaft a bit. I put a file to the end of the shaft as I operated the drill. The shaft finally came out, still having salt residue on it. Looking forward to getting the next one either moving and not replacing or going about the same procedure to remove it. I have the second engine upside down with diesel fuel filling the midsection or exhaust to see if that might penetrate and help loosen the next shaft. there should be a grease fitting there

 

[Sea Rider]

Been there, in those unpleasant situations ended cutting the shift lever with a thin saw close to the internal metal bushing, with time and patience drilled all the internal plastic portion, bought a new shift lever, greased it well with marine grease along both small o'rings and assembled all back in.

Would recommend to polish with thin metal sandpaper the internal metal bushing a bit for the greased shift lever and o'rings to slide smoother when the lever is put into operation. Factory dried grease, salt water will seize up the whole lever system. Would be most than adequate to remove the system from time to time depending on the motor use, clean and re-grease all components and slide them back, that way will forget all about being seized again...

Happy Boating