Lower Unit in Gear! Need Help.

Last night I changed out my impeller on a 2006 Mercury 115 EFI motor. When putting the lower unit back on I had it within about 1/4″ of being snug when the unit “jumped or bumped or popped or something”. After the sound it slid into position and I was able to tighten the nuts all the way down. When I cranked the motor it was in gear. I had the throttle in the neutral position at the time. I’m guessing the “pop” was it shifting into gear as I apparently applied pressure to the rod but I don’t know. Any ideas? How can I shift it back to neutral? Did I potentially do something more serious to the motor? After removing the foot again, I didn’t see any metal shavings or damaged parts so I’m hoping I simply have it in gear. Please help.

put the lower back in nuetral and put it together.

Shift linkage was not properly lined up when you put the lower unit back on. You need to make sure the shifter on the boat is in neutral and before the lower unit is put back up that the gear case is also in neutral and when you slide the lower back on that the linkage lines up.

If I recall right its a rotating spline shaft for the gear shifting. If you grab it with a pliers on the lower unit you should be able to rotate it back and fourth and feel it snap into forward/neutal/reverse.

BK,
Care to take a guess?

Just my .02, but I usually put Merc’s in reverse b4 taking them apart. Makes it easier to line up the splines and threads during reassembly jerr

Hi,
According to the “book” for Cam-shift Type I and II, the lower unit is separated from the power head w/ shift in forward. For E-Z shift models the lower unit is separated from the power head w/ shift in neutral. To determine what kind of shift type you have put the lower unit in neutral; rotate the prop shaft clockwise and counter clock wise. A Cam-shift model will rotate 360 Deg, where a E-Z shift model will rotate only 30 Deg.

Enjoy,
Roger

Quote:

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BK,
Care to take a guess?

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Too early for muskie fishing.

Like Kroger said,,,Put the shifter in neutral and turn the drive shaft that comes out of the top of the lower unit the way it would turn when the motors running and see which way the prop is turning. Depending on how your linkage is set up, with a pair of pliers or vice grips turn the shifting shaft that comes out of the lower unit and turn the driveshaft until you know the lower unit is neutral.

Above it was said he put it in reverse, the reason why is because it doesn’t take much pressure to make it pop out of neutral and into forward, and that’s because of the three notched cam, at that time it was right by the power head and if I’m remembering right another down in the lower unit, that’s the way it was then. One notch is for forward, the center if for neutral and the last notch is for reverse. Its been awhile since I’ve been in a lower unit of a Merc but that’s the way they were designed then. If you use reverse make sure the controls are in reverse, be extra careful if their both in neutral. Take a little time because its not hard and you didn’t hurt anything, its just the splines aren’t lined up, no harm done because I’ve done it myself.