# 1988 Mercury 75 HP stuck in forward gear



## gbearden

I took the lower unit off to change the impeller; went to put the lower unit back on and wanted to make sure that the lower unit was in forward gear. I found out that that is the only gear it will go in is forward gear. i turned the lower shift shaft in every direction to no avail. Turn prop CCW and get resistance; turn prop Cw and clicks. (I believe that means it is in forward gear).


Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks!


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## Jaybird

Sounds like you @#$%'d up

Drop the lower unit again and uncouple the shaft. Take the cowling off the motor and move the linkage to the neutral position. Put your throttle lever in the neutral position as well. Carefully reconnect the shaft and lower unit. This should get you lined up or at least within one spline of the correct position. May take a little trial and error but you'll get it. Just make sure you take your time and get it right


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## gbearden

Thanks your for your response...

with the lower unit off; I turn the lower shift shaft 2 times to the left (reverse) or two times to the right (forward) and then back to the middle which should be neutral. It doesnt matter what combination of turning I do; prop still turns in forward gear. Am i missing something or is my lower unit messed up...


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## CurDog

I do the same thing basically as "Jaybird", except I put the motor in reverse gear at the shift control, Before I remove the lower foot. 
But you can still pull the shifter in reverse, then turn the shift linkage (on the lower foot) in reverse. Then put the foot back on. You may have to turn/twist the foot to get it to spline up, but it won't jump gear while doing it, and getting you locked up in Fwd or Rvs gear.


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## gbearden

Is it possible that the lower shift shaft has disconnected from the shift cam?

Just throwing that out there


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## TheCaptKen

What you will need to do is remove the lower unit again. Set it up somewhere where you can turn the shift shaft counter-clockwise with some pliers while rotating the prop. At some point you will hit neutral. When that happens, then rotate the shift shaft clockwise one click or just enough where it will stay in place and not pop back. That is forward detent. Now reinstall the lower unit and only rotate the prop counter clockwise to align the drive shaft splines. If you turn it clockwise, you will mess up the process. Unless you have somehow pulled the shift shaft up a couple of inches, the cam should still be on the end of the shaft.


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## gbearden

With the Lower Unit Off; 

I turned the prop shaft and while at the same time I turned the shift shaft from one direction to the other (started at one side and turned untill it couldnt turn on the other side.)

Still no response. Propeller stays in same gear....


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