1991 Evinrude 175 shift shaft

[drola]

i need to redo my impeller on my 1991 evinrude 175. obviously the shift shaft needs to be disconnected from underneath the carbs before anything else.
unlike all my loopers of times past that the bottom cowling splits in half, this one does not. i do not for the life of me see any way of getting to that bolt that disengages the shift shaft.
is there a trick to this? i removed the plate under the carbs hoping for better access but that did not help.

 

[drola]

Re: 1991 Evinrude 175 shift shaft

never mind. took off the lower carb, shifted into reverse, and slowly but surely it came out in 1/8 turn increments.
very poor design but there's nothing i can do about it other than deal with it.