lower unit won't go back on!!!

[sti1471]

I bought a boat from a guy who had the lower unit taken off his outdrive to repair the shift shaft. I repaired the shift shaft, and water pump. I install the anoid on the lower unit and I attempted to put the lower unit back on the boat and it will not go on!!!!

I have the boat throttle lever in the forward gear but still nothing. I get the lower unit to about 1-1.5" from all the way on and it just will not go!! I manually shift the shift shaft to the forward gear (prop spins free CW, but locks CCW). when the lower unit is close to all the way on, I spin the prop CCW to move the propshaft seeing if it was just not aligned.

Does the throttle handle need to be just in forward gear idle, or WOT? When I shift the shift shaft into forward gear the prop spins free CW but not CCW. however while it is in the setting, I turn the prop CW and the prop shaft does not turn with it. If I turn the prop CCW the prop shaft spins even though it feels locked.

How do I know when I am in forward gear with the shift shaft?

any help would be very appreciated.

 

[oops!]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

what exactally are we working on here?

is this a lower unit that you are trying to bolt to an upper?.....or a drive that you want to put back on a boat?

what ever the throttle is in.....if its an alpha....just make sure the drive cam and the cog align. (sorry that this is not the correct terminology) the shift shaft fits into a responding "keeper" in the housing....they must connect properly.

 

[sti1471]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

Yes, the drive it attatched to the boat still, and I am trying to bolt the lower unit on to the upper unit. I slide the prop shaft up and I can feel when it slides into the teeth in the upper unit, but it acts a though it is not going all the way on. The mounted bolts on the lower unit line up and go into the bolt holes on the upper unit so I know the alighnment is correcty. However since it is only about 1" from being all the way on, it does not give me any room to look and see what is not going on correctly. I am not sure if it is the little plastic tube that goes over the water hose in the upper housing, or if it is the brass tube that accepts the shift shaft.

Is it possible that the shift what was not put on correctly. I remove the brass bushing, and removed the shift shaft. Once I did that i slide the new shift shaft in, and turned it until the teeth lined up in the lower unit and replaced the brass bushing. Is there a certain way the shift shaft needs to be put back into the lower unit or as long as it is manually shifted into forward gear by hand it should be fine?

The tilt on the boat is in the UP position, does it need to be in the down position to get the lower unit back on?

 

[IanFS]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

If it's an Alpha 1 Gen 1, when I reinstalled my lower to upper drive, I found that the 2 nuts at the front had to be installed to the top of the threads before the unit was fully pushed home, then once they were installed at the top of the threads, they had to be wound down because the units could not be closed because they baulked on the 2 small fins above the upper ventilation plate.

This may not be your problem, but I hope it helps!

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

I had the same problem...I read it was easier to remove the upper and and attach it to the lower unit while on the bench, THEN attach the whole works to the boat. It benefits me twofold. Ease of assembly & frees up another 2 feet of space at the back of the garage because I will keep the whole works in the basement over the winter.

 

[sti1471]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

OK,

I finally got the lower unit back on the upper unit. I went to test the shifting pattern and where the prop locks. I put the lever in neutral and the prop spins free in both directions. I put the lever in forward, and the prop locks in CCW. I put the lever in reverse and it spins free in both directions. So I looked behind the drive at at the shift lever and the 2 pieces were not connected. I connected the 2 parts and I adjusted the barrel on the lower shift cable until the shifts all lock the prop how it should
.
HOWEVER, when I put the lever in neutral and forward the prop spins freely the way it should. However when I put it in reverse, it locks CW, but when I spin the prop CCW, it spins free for about 1-2" and then the prop feels like it gets some resistance for about 1-2" and then I can feel the prop kind of "pop" and then it feels free again and it repeats this process as i turn the prop. Does the cable need to be adjusted more, or is there something else that is going on like a gear slipping or something?

 

[maicoman]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

When you repaired the shift shaft did you replace the shift arm that the barrel lines up with.It is possible to put the lever in backwards (don't ask how I know) and get the barrel to kick out like yours does.Look at the arm and install what looks like the wrong way.

 

[kmartin1011]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

dropped my lower unit on alpha 1 out drive just lower part to change the impeller trying to re install lower unit get it to go on but when i do it goes into forward and netural fine but won't lock into reverse any suggestion had reverse before impeller change

 

[achris]

Re: lower unit won't go back on!!!

Kmartin, please start your own thread...