Mariner Lower Unit Question

Mr. Mechanic I am not. I am having issues putting the lower unit back together. The rod I am pointing to…I am wondering if this should go up and down to shift the gears forward, neutral and reverse, correct? It should go up and down is my thinking. The shaft coming from the handle has a threaded barrel that screws onto this rod. It is froze up. I cannot pull it up or push it down.
Am I doing something wrong? What is the rod supposed to do?

Thanks!
Tuck

My fear is that there is more wrong than what I was told. My buddy who’s boat this is thought it needed an impeller. I am wondering if it is froze-up? BTW, the impeller I took out was fine. $30 down the drain…

Tiller? I would expect it would turn left and right with the middle being nuetral.

-J.

Yes, tiller JJ.

There’s nothing that baseball bat in the background won’t fix.

Just looked again…The piece that it screws onto only goes up and down when the shift lever is shifted from reverse to neutral to forward. There is no side to side or twisting motion.

I knew some clown would say that.
How do you think I got it apart?

Not really a good idea to move the gear linkages around once you remove the lower unit. Generally you want to put it in gear before dropping the lower unit. If it has not moved. Good. Just leave it and put it back together opposite the way you took it apart. Should be ok.

-J.

Careful with the bat…runs about $900. if you swing it to hard.

Does the prop turn?

What Jon said…as this is what got me into trouble.

this looks to be your linkage , make sure your shifter is in foreward….or is this a tiller? if it is a tiller then go have another beer cause I know nothing. I had changed my impellor and had a time getting the linkage to line up when re-attaching the lower unit, what My budy finally figured out is that when I was messing around with the impellor, i had accidently shifted the lower unit into neutral. (and the shifting was froze up, when the linkage was attached) Look at the piece in the powerhead and watch which direction it turns when going to neutral, have a helper do the moving of the gear selector, turn the threaded lower unit gear thing the opposite direction. (If you are in neutral, switching to foreward) As I found out, it didn’t take much to accidently move the lower unit from foreward into neutral. When I figured that out, I attached the lower unit, and the throttle when in and out of gear easily. Good luck!

That rod should go up and down for the gears. Try no to move the prop around or shift the motor so you can get the drive shaft lined back up

yes, if your prop is spinning freely, then your lower unit is in nuetral. If you twist the shaft, the prop should turn meaning you are in gear. Turns hard counterclockwise I believe.

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Not really a good idea to move the gear linkages around once you remove the lower unit. Generally you want to put it in gear before dropping the lower unit. If it has not moved. Good. Just leave it and put it back together opposite the way you took it apart. Should be ok.

-J.

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Here is the deal…The motor had to be in reverse in order to expose the threaded hex barrel that screws onto that shaft I am pointing to. I got the gears on the main shaft to line up, I had everything bolted up, and tried to shift it and it would not go anywhere…

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yes, if your prop is spinning freely, then your lower unit is in nuetral. If you twist the shaft, the prop should turn meaning you are in gear. Turns hard counterclockwise I believe.

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I can spin the prop and it turns the drive shaft.

So everything is lined up and the shifter and lower unit is in Reverse?

Tuck, by any chance does the trottle have to be in a “shift” position to shift it?

When it’s put together..of course?

Chris take it to the pros before it cost you alot of money

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When it’s put together..of course?

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I can shift it (At the handle) when the unit is off. So the throttle has nothing to do with it. It is the rod and the lower unit impeding the shifting.

What exactly did you do to the lower unit?

It takes a bit of pressure to actually shift the unit into gear by hand. Yes it does work up and down. Might try turning the input shaft or prop while trying to put it into and out of gear. If I remember correctly the input shaft should turn clock wise looking from the top down. Notice which way the prop shaft turns that will tell you where the gear shift position is at. My Evinrude tiller seems to me for forward my shift rod ( the one your pointing at ) on the lower unit had to be down and all the way up was reverse.

Thanks Tom! That was the info I was looking for. I will try that tonight. I believe mine, down is reverse because that is the direction the rod travels when the gear selector is shifted into reverse.