Shift Shaft

[pcbennison]

Hi - New to the forum. I have a 1989 Mercruiser Alpha One 140 HP. I have done some work on it, most recently replacing the bellows. However, when I put it back together I did not put the shift into neutral, then I started the motor heard some clanking and the shift did nothing. When I pulled the drive off the bell housing I could see the Shift Shaft was sheared off with the piece laying there. Do I have to disassemble the whole drive to get at this or is there some magic way to pull this shaft out?

Thanks..Pat

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Shift Shaft

First off you are supposed to be in forward. Assuming that you broke the top off of the intermediate shift shaft, you have to remove the outdrive, split the geahousing from the driveshaft housing, and remove the cotter pin from the intermediate shift shaft to remove it from the drivshaft housing. This may help: http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...0065.png&inbr=2203&bnbr=60&bdesc=BELL+HOUSING Good luck.

 

[pcbennison]

Re: Shift Shaft

Wow fast reply and thanks. I meant to say I left it in neutral and did not put it in forward. I definitely broke the intermediate shift shaft, the pice laying on top was shaped like an L. How do I split the gear housing and driveshaft housing? I see three bolts and can not see how it comes apart.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Shift Shaft

dont do anything untill you download a manual. there are 5 nuts and 1 allen bolt UNDER THE TRIM TAB. you remove the trim tab first to get access to it.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Shift Shaft

Listen to the Doctor! Read the manual, and understand what you need to do. Once you have it apart, it might be worthwhile to go ahead and change the impeller while you are at it. When you put the two halves back together, make sure you turn the lower shift shaft (short splined shaft) all the way clockwise (forward), turn the prop counterclockwise until it locks and use a bungee to hold it in place. make sure that when the new intermediate ss slides onto the lower ss it points straight ahead. It's not too bad of a job.

 

[pcbennison]

Re: Shift Shaft

Thank you all for helping me, this forum is awesome. I have downloaded two manuals and have to figure out which one it is, I am almost certain it is not the gen II, but will double check the serial number. Problem is the boat is about an hour away at the lake. I built a stand for the out-drive (saw it on this forum) and was able to secure the out-drive and transport it in the back of the vehicle. Now, with it in my garage I have the tools and the time to figure out what is going on. In looking through the two manuals quickly (one over 700 pgs, other 500 pgs) I have not seen where it actually details splitting it, so I will continue to read and find out what I need to do before continuing.

Thanks again for all the help, hopefully in time I can help the next newbie along.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Shift Shaft

You have a gen I, the gen II uses a different type of shift shaft and was not used in production till 1990. If you have the Merc manual, section 3B, page 12 "Separate drive shaft housing from gear housing".