90TLRY how to remove engine shift linkage

[ctbeacher]

Hi,

Here is an unusual one.

At the end of last year my 2000 90TLRY got temporarily stuck in gear a few times - in both reverse and forward. I pulled the boat out of the water to investigate.

My first thought was that the gear shift until at the helm was stuck. But when I disconnected the shift cables at the engine the shift box moved freely. I reconnected the cables.

Second though was that the jam must be in the lower unit. Since I keep it in Cape Cod over the winter and it was late in the season, I removed the lower unit to take home and tear down over the winter. But, after the lower unit was off the engine, i tried the gear shift and it continued to be stuck. I again disconnected the cables and they moved freely. I tried to move the shift levers in the engine by hand and that narrowed the problem to the shift levers and/or shift rod in the engine. Both the levers on top within the lower cowl and the end of the rod underneath move slightly, but will are then jammed.

That got me thinking about what the cause might be - and I suspect a tiny screw that I dropped into the lower cowl 3 years ago when reinstalling my prime start module might have worked its way down into the hole that the rod goes through the cowl and has jammed things up. I could not find it after it dropped, and thought it really could not cause any harm. (I may be really wrong about that!)

To see what the real cause is will require removal of the shift levers and rod for inspection and to make sure that darned tiny screw is not in the hole. Since the linkage is located under the engine block, I am stumped as to how to remove them. My hope is that I do not have to pull the block out to get the linkage out!

The repair manuals don't address the linkage in text or in any schematics in detail - I can't figure out ow to remove & replace and there is very little room under the engine block. I may get some room if I pull the carbs.

Any suggestions from you folks as to how to disassemble and remove the shift linkage from the engine would very much be appreciated.

Thanks!

[boats.net]

The engine does need to pulled to get shift shaft out.

[99yam40]

The engine does need to pulled to get shift shaft out.

Did you mean the power head needs to be removed to get shift shaft out?

[rodbolt17]

yep, power head comes off to remove the shift rod.
but wait .

dissconect the shift cable. have someone hold the cable end while you try the shifter.
if its a bad cable they can stop the motion, if the cable is good they cannot, not by hand anyway.
a certain brand of black cables really suck.

[ctbeacher]

Darn!

Not what I wanted to hear - that I have to pull the power head. I will try most anything before resorting to that. While it was well maintained, I dread trying to get the bolts out.

I will be getting up to where it is stored in early May. Will bring bright light to see better, a magnetic tool and various wires to probe around the area where the shift shaft goes through the cowling. With a bit of luck maybe I can work a little magic.

If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks!

[ctbeacher]

Update - problem solved without pulling the power head!

Update to my shift lock problem......

I spent some time since my last post looking at the parts schematic of the shift linkage. If it was a jammed screw, I would have to pull the power head. But if it was a jam in the cam/ball/spring, maybe I could get that unstuck without having to pull the shift linkage out.

On Saturday I took another look before I tossed in the towel and went about trying to pull the powerhead - I'm glad I took the time to really take a look.

I disconnected the shift & throttle cables and tested the movement - everything moved fine. I moved them out of the way on the right side of the engine. That gave me a good view of where the shaft comes up through the cowling. Watching the shaft from above, I wiggled the shift shaft from underneath (the lower unit was already pulled) to see if it looked like a screw could be jamming the shaft. The shaft was able to move back and forth a bit within the hole. That made me think it was not a jammed shaft.

I wanted to take a look at the shift cam, so, on the right side, I raised the oil tank enough to removed the hose to the oil pump and moved the tank out of the way, toward the back of the power head.

Now I was able to see the shift cam. I reached around and tried to manually move the shift linkage and noticed that the cam would move a bit, but then stop. I thought the ball and spring might be stuck, so I hit it with some WD40 and then some grease.

Bam! I was now able to manually move the shifter! I moved to lever to the reverse position and took a good look at the cam. The "forward" section of the cam has just a slight bit of rust. I took some grease on my fingertip and generously dabbed it on the cam and tried to get some in around the ball & spring opening.

I reconnected the control cables and it continued to work fine. I then reinstalled the lower until and it is now fine - shifts fwd/neu/rew with very little effort.

So, it appeared that a slight amount of rust on the cam was the cause. Although this greasing is difficult to do, I will make it a point to get some grease on the cam any time I remove the carbs or oil tank.

A bit of thought and troubleshooting saved me a ton of headaches! I hope this helps someone else in the future.

[robert graham]

That white spray Lithium Grease is great for shooting a good protective coating into otherwise inaccessible places....like that shifter cam/ball/spring....

[forest813]

F90XA Handle Gear Shift Removal

I realize this is an old thread, but I have a similar situation. I purchased a used 2013 F90XA which is the long shaft. I need to remove the extension on the transom to convert it back to a short shaft or 21.1" transom. I need to remove and replace the drive shaft and handle gear shift assy. In this thread you mentioned the power head needs to be removed to change the gear shift assembly. Are you able to provide me with details or web site that would give me those retails. The same for the removal of the drive shaft would be also appreciated.
Your help would be much appreciated, thanks.