Re: 77' 115 No neutral and goes forward in reverse
Most likely someone has removed the lower unit for servicing and incorrectly positioned the shift shaft when they reinstalled it. Since both the shift shaft in the lower unit and the upper shift rod are splined, it's possible to reassemble them out-of-whack.
I you do a search on postings for "stuck in forward" or "no neutral" or "no reverse" you'll see how common this problem is.
The solution is to pull the lower unit back off, reposition the shift shaft so that the lower unit is in Neutral. You'll know when you've found the correct position because when you're in Neutral, any rotation of the shift shaft clockwise shifts to Fwd gear. Any rotation of the shift shaft counter-clockwise from Neutral shifts to Reverse.
Once you position the lower unit shift shaft to Neutral, place the control box in Neutral as well. Reinstall the lower unit without disturbing the positions of shift shaft or control box.
That should fix the problem!
On the off-chance the control box is causing the problem, disconnect the shift cable at the motor. Manually shift the motor from Fwd-Neutral-Reverse and see what happens. When the shifting arm in the powerhead is all the way forward you're in Fwd gear; all the way aft, Reverse. If you have trouble shifting manually, it may help to have someone spin the prop by hand as you shift.
Caution: To prevent and unexpected and catastrophic startup, be sure you disconnect all the spark plug wires from the spark plugs when you're working on the motor.
HTH & let us know how things go.........ed
p.s. if you need instructions on how to remove/reinstall the lower unit, do a search on these pages, plenty of postings on the topic.
