No reverse on 15 hp Evinrude

1988 2 stroke, it’s a great little motor. I’ve had clutch dogs/gears fail on other motors in the past, and they always give some warning – slipping, grinding, jumping out of gear, but this one shifted perfectly all last season right up until I pulled it out of the lake and stored it. It’s on a 14′ Lund that mostly just carries me and gear, but occasionally I bring a partner. I noticed last season, it was taking longer to get on plane with two aboard, so just before I put it in the water today, I replaced the 11 pitch prop with a 10 pitch. Other than that it was untouched since pulling it out last Fall. I definitely haven’t touched the linkage.
Started on the 4th pull, warmed it up a minute, checked that it had a good stream of water, then shifted to reverse to back away from the dock and it didn’t even make a clunk. I can feel the detent when shifting N to R and N to F, but I can feel that the gears are not meshing or even rubbing, even if I put heavy pressure towards reverse on the shift lever. Forward feels perfect and ran for me all day, good thing, because the wind today made boat control tough with just the trolling motor.
I really don’t want to replace the motor, and I know it’s not cost effective to have someone open up the lower unit, so looking for any ideas before I start shopping for a 4 stroke EFI with power trim.

Couple of things, shift fork broke,or bolt came out of brass coupling clamp on shift rod.
It is possible that the shift fork pivot screw fell out but you would have noticed gear oil coming out of lower unit.

Thank you iowaboy1, I was hoping you’d reply. I would assume replacing the fork is about equal to the street value of the motor?
The pivot screw is in, I wiped down the motor before mounting the motor on the boat, and it was positively in place.

That’s one hell of a motor. Had one myself. Iconic.

Sure, you will have a few hundred if that,but you can’t replace it for that.
That motor is highly sought after, I wouldn’t hit it in the head yet.

I have a different reverse problem on an ‘89 merc tiller. Won’t budge at all when trying to shift into reverse. It’s the throttle twist shifting style.

Don’t want to take too much of your time iowaboy1, but do you happen to know what year range the lower units are interchangeable, and I believe both the 9.9 and 15 are the same lower unit – correct? Finding a donor motor may be the best solution.
I love the motor on my wide/deep 14′ Lund, starts and idles great, and with me alone, it would run 24 and occasionally kiss 25 mph on GPS with that 11 pitch prop!
Thanks for the help.

Yep, some of those motors shared the same lower unit, if I remember correctly the only difference was the gear ratio, and sometimes they would compensate by using a different prop.
I cannot recall the year ranges, sorry, I work on every brand out there and I cant keep it all straight on what fits what.

I dont know where you are located but give the folks at Tim’s outboard over in Hackensack a call, they are fantastic to work with and I have bought several lower units and other things from them when I cannot find brand new or available anywhere else (218) 682-2331
They can either go through yours or provide you one with all new seals and gaskets ready to install except for the water pump unless you want them to do that too.
I looked up the shift fork, 179.00 plus freight, wish I lived closer I would stop over and take a look at it myself.

Labdaddy1, those types of shift setups are a pain sometimes, if the cables arent frayed or stretched plum out preventing a complete shift, it could be in the scroll in the handle, often times I have found that simply cleaning and greasing the cam where it transitions from rotary motion to lateral motion helps immensely unless there is a mechanical problem in the lower unit itself or something in the neutral detent has come apart.

i had the same issue last year with my 40 horse Johnson. about a 1976 model. it wouldnt shift. i paid a guy $700.00 to fix it up. he did some other things but with the price of outboards nowadays…….i’d find someone to repair it. you already know what you got………

I would absolutely repair that 15 HP outboard. The 1980s were the absolute pinnacle of OMC design and reliability. If properly maintained, those engines will still be around and running in 2080.