1980 OMC stringer 800 lower unit

[Boathead004]

Hey guys,
So I have my lower unit apart and I'm trying to diagnose what was causing my drive to not engage into gear. Other than the reverse gear which has quote a bit of wear on where the clutch dog engages on. Everything else looks in decent condition. What should I be looking for and testing, to find out what was not letting me engage either into reverse or forward?

 

[Boathead004]

Oh ya and second question. When I pulled drain plug it was straight water that came out for about 5 seconds. I understand that i need new seals but I was wondering could that cause the boat to not engage, it seems unlikely to be but I thought I would ask. Thanks

 

[southkogs]

Water can cause a gear case to lock up ... is it spinning freely?

 

[Boathead004]

Well currently my lower unit is taking apart. What do you mean is it spinning freely?

 

[southkogs]

Ooh ... if you could manually spin the gears. I don't mess with the lowers too much (too chicken / inexperienced), but water in the gear case can cause them to lock up.

 

[Boathead004]

Yes I can manually spin the gears. When the lower unit was connected I disconnected shift cable from shift converter and manually pulled cable and still couldn't get in either gear. So I thought gears must be worn or thanks to you maybe clutch was stuck because of water

 

[southkogs]

Someone else will have to chime in on that ... I dunno' enough about mechanical shift to say. But I do know water in a gear case can mess ya' up.

 

[jim tubbe]

I've recently disassembled two omc 800 hydro/mechanical shifts completely. I have now installed a after market two lever binnacle mount for the gear box and throttle on my boat. I've also cut out a piece of the shift converter box so the shift cables have maximum room to rotate and change gears. Once you assemble your lower unit then stand it up on a fixture and attach a large electric drill to the power input shaft. Then turn on the electric drill at low speed, now pull on the two shift cables and test that it changes from forward to neutral to reverse. I have a shift cable on my lower unit that is the wrong one and makes everything run in reverse, no problem just pull back on the binnacle lever to go froward and push forward to go back.

 

[derekallen98]

I recently had the same issue with my 78'. Reverse worked fine, but no forward gear. It happened to be a broken forward shift spring which is usually caused from shifting gears at too high of speed.