Old Yamaha outboard (again)

[Nigebryant]

Morning everyone,
I have just changed the impeller on the water pump and that now works fine.
However, I have put the bottom end on exactly as it came off ie, it was in nuetral and never moved anything to do with the gear shift.
But now I cannot get it out of forward.
Even if I switch it into reverse, it stays in forwards.
What have I done wrong?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'm pretty new to this and tried to do something that was pretty simple but have ****ed it up somewhere along the line.
Thanks in advance,
Nige (the failed mechanic)

[rodbolt17]

you most lilky missed the shifter splines, or us not knowing what uou have, if its a small motor you most likly disenguaged the shift mechanism in the lower.
a model number would help us as we have no idea if your woring on an antiquqe 3.5 or an F350 V8.

[Nigebryant]

Hi , Thanks for the fast reply.
I cant find any numbers on it anywhere but it is a yamaha 60hp 2 stroke.
I would geuss its about 8 years old , maybe more.
All the linkage went together fine even the shift, but it just seems to stay in forward gear No matter where the control is set.
I think maybe I did disengage the gear select in the lower end as everything else went back in smooth as silk.I wish it had metioned how to avoid doing that on the video I watched.
Is it an easy fix that a buffoon like myself can tackle or would I be better gettin it to a shop?
Thanks in advance,
Nige

[rodbolt17]

good news is, you did nothing to the lower.
bad news is, your going to drop the lower and reinstall it.
this time making sure both the shift handle is in N, the unit is in N and the two splines engauge when you reinstall it.
3 things MUST happen in that last inch of mating the unit.
the drive shaft splines must line up,the water tube must line up AND the shift shaft splines must engage.

[Nigebryant]

Thanks once again,
You were spot on, everything was lined up and in the right situation.
But as you mentioned I had moved the gear spline out of alignment by just a fraction, Has now been remedied.
I cannot thank you enough for the help you have given me from this site, Only wish there was some way of helping back but alas I am not knowledgeable enough for that.
I am however learning a lot from you and hopefully will not have to bother you with little things again.
Reading through the posts on the site has opened my eyes to a lot of things regarding the workings of my engine and most of the replies I have read have been in very easy to understand terms instead of over explained garble.
Thanks to all on this forum and if ever you're out this way "ALWAYS look for the adams apple on the women" if they have one, Smile and move on!!
Thank you.
Nige..