1985 Mercury 35hp gears not lining up

[jonboy67]

I purchased a 1985 Merc 35hp that had been in storage for 10 years. I replaced the water pump and when I started it, the motor was in forward gear. I must have shifted the gears when I reinstalled the lower unit ( had a tough time getting it back together ). On my shift control, it barely moves into forward, but moves wayyy past the normal reverse position. What is the best way of correcting this situation ( other than taking to a repair shop )


On a related note.... the 1989 40 hp Merc that I am replacing had tilt/trim. Will this fit onto the 1985 Merc 35hp? Being this is on a pontoon, it is VERY hard on the back to reach over the edge of the railing to lift the motor near shore.

Any information would be GREATLY appreciated!!!


Thanks,

Jon

 

[crappiejig]

Re: 1985 Mercury 35hp gears not lining up

You will have to remove the LU again. Shift your controls to nuetral and get LU into nuetral by rotating the shift shaft. Only a small amount of rotation is required for the LU to change gears. You can usually feel the detents. Place a rag on the shift shaft and grab the shift shaft with a pliers and rotate. If it wont go clockwise try CCW. When the LU is in REV,there will be resistance to the prop rotation in both directions,when in FWD will click in one direction and resistance the other direction.Some folks put the gears to REV or FWD when doing a LU reinstall, with the controls matching,does not matter,as long as it all lines up.Hope this helps, scott

 

[jonboy67]

Re: 1985 Mercury 35hp gears not lining up

Thanks for the help, Scott !! I picked up a Clymer's and noticed that for the Merc 40 it says to shift into Neutral, but for other models it should be in Forward. There is no specific mention of a 35 hp. I recall reading online that the 35 is basically the same as an older 40hp ( 1982 I think ) so thats what I'll try. The thing I had the most problem with was a sleeve at the top of the driveshaft kept falling off when I removed the LU because the spline wasn't lining up. I also read that I should turn the flywheel to get the to match up.

Thanks again for your help