1980 Johnson 35 HP 2-stroke - problem with gears

[paulinho]

Hello everybody!

I encountered a strange problem when test running my 35hp Johnson from 1980 after removing the lower unit in order to install a new water pump. When reassembled, I can only shift from neutral to reverse gear (actually, when set forward, the engine is on neutral and when set on neutral or reverse, the motor is on reverse). Does any one of you know, what might cause this? What did I do wrong?

I was trying to follow SELOC manual when replacing the waterpump. I switched gears from forward to reverse during when reassembling the motor to have the shift rod connected. However, to get the splines on driveshaft right position, I rotated the driveshaft from the propeller instead of rotating the flywheel as instructed when installing the lower unit.

I noticed the manual warning to "Be extremely careful to prevent the driveshaft being pulled up and free the pinion gear. Otherwise the lower unit must be dissassembled to align the pinion gear and driveshaft." but I don't recal lifting it up att all during the process. Is it possible that the problem would be related to alignment of driveshaft and pinion gear eventhough the reverse gear works but is bring engaged too early (already on neutral)?

As the motor hasn't been used for ten years prior yesterday, could it be possible that the shift rod has become stuck with the casing somehow? I gave the motor a normal service (new lower unit gear oil, new spark plugs etc.) but it's highly likely that I missed the shift rod when greasing other parts (with easy access).

Any help is highly appreciated!

[boats.net]

Did you screw shift shaft in or out of gearcase when working water pump? If so then it will need to reset to properly measurement. Recheck clamp the connects upper shift shaft to lower and make it installed correctly.

[paulinho]

Did you screw shift shaft in or out of gearcase when working water pump? If so then it will need to reset to properly measurement. Recheck clamp the connects upper shift shaft to lower and make it installed correctly.

That's a good point - thank you! It's actually possible that I screwed the shaft in or out in the gearcase in mistake since the lower nut was stuck with the shaft at first and the whole shaft was rotating as I tried to detachs the nuts from each other. As I was rotating the upper nut CCW and the lower CW, I guess the shaft might be screwed too much in the gearcase.

So I should try to screw the shaft out of gearcasea bit but not too much?

EDIT: Just realized that I rotated the lower nut CCW when tightening the joint so it's possible that the lower shaft is sitting too high at the moment as well. I guess this is more likely to explain (in contradictory to the shaft sitting too low), why reverse gear is being engaged both at neutral and reverse position of the shift lever?

[boats.net]

Your service manual should have the specs for shift shaft height.