C60 TLRY lower unit making some clicking noise in neutral while idleing

[99yam40]

I helped my brother change the water pump and stat in his new to him C60 used Yamaha.
while running on muffs to make sure every thing was working OK, I noticed a clicking noise while idling in neutral.He did not notice it before, but did not notice it this time until I pointed it out.
If you put into forward it went away and when brought back to neutral it was not very noticeable. But if put into reverse( clicking went away) and back to neutral it was very noticeable.
We disconnected the linkage to see if it was set properly it was a little out, so adjusted to make sure the cable slipped on with no bind while shifter and motor linkage was in neutral.

This made it worse, so we dropped lower unit again and made sure the lower was in neutral and made sure control and linkage was all in its neutral position.
Put it all back together and it still did it.
Only way to keep it from happening was to slide the shift linkage back towards reverse some.
this moved it out of the position that linkage wanted to be in at neutral.
My thoughts are either the linkage or shaft on motor has been twisted or bent somehow in the past or maybe something in the lower unit has been bent. Like piece that moves shift dog.
I am thinking the shift dog it making contact with gears

Anyway does anyone have any experience with something like this before and what the fix may be?

Just to let you know I checked my C40 TLRX when I got home and it does not make these noises , prop moves freely and quietly when in neutral and turned by hand.

OK just thought of some other info that might be relevant.
While lower was off and I shifted between forward, neutral, and reverse, it still made the clicking noise in neutral when turning prop by hand, so the linkage/shift shaft should not be in play on this is my thoughts

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Rodbolt previously posted (about other engines) that.

As I re-call, the retainer for the impeller, if the verticle driveshaft is pulled up taught when the impeller retainer is installed, it'll will stop the shaft from rattling up and down.

No load on the shaft (neutral) allows the movement/noise. Once in gear, it stops the noise.

As it is, it won't hurt anything, just annoying.


Here ya go,

Post #7 specifically; http://www.yamahaoutboardparts.com/f...k-th22482.html about 3/4 the way down..

[99yam40]

the C60 does not have this retainer

[99yam40]

looking at the parts break down it does not look like there is much to bend out of shape unless it is a shaft.

Might the spring give way or break causing it not to return to where it should in neutral?

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Perhaps someone had it apart and got aligned the shifter shaft (both the cable, engine end and lower end) all off a tooth or two.

Might be easier to drop the lower unit again, re-align the cable at the shifter, then the engine(alignment marks), (seems you already did this). Then the LU (rotating the driveshaft) to ascertain it is indeed dead central in neutral..

At least with the LU off again, you can see if there still noise when you move the shifter shaft while rotating. Find neutral, if there is still noise, you know there likely issues starting in the LU..

That noise should go away with the LU off and in neutral (obviously)

Then re-assemble.

Good luck

[99yam40]

OK just thought of some other info that might be relevant.
While lower was off and I shifted between forward, neutral, and reverse, it still made the clicking noise in neutral when turning prop by hand, so the linkage/shift shaft should not be in play on this is my thoughts

Yep already tried that,

Also while lower was off the last time and I was moving the shaft back and forth into and out of the gears and neutral , at one point I turned it in wrong direction moving from reverse and it got real easy to turn ( i could turn with fingers and had quite a lot of travel) it stayed in reverse. I take it I swung the cam off from where it normally was pushing on the pin and spring. I turned it back and found neutral and both forward and reverse, so I think it is OK, but it did suprize me that could happen

[rodbolt17]

why was it a surprise???

its a cam on a shaft.
it can turn 360*.
some merc designs were the same.

cams wear out, shift plungers wear out.
if you have the lower off and shift into the N detent and the clutch dogs are still contacting the gear dogs its time for a tear down and inspection of the lower and replace worn parts as nessasary.

preferably BEFORE you damage a clutch or a gear or both.

[99yam40]

Thanks Rodbolt, this is what I kind of thought needed to happen, but wanted to be sure before tearing into it.

Being it is just a shaft,cam, pin, and spring ( or is there more parts to be worried about) Is there a most likely part or parts that would be needing replaced that you have seen in the past on lowers?

[rodbolt17]

dunno.
its most likely the cam, the follower or the pin.
or a combination.
but with the lower off and in the N detent if the dogs still hit, something wore arse out. its that simple.

[99yam40]

Agreed,
plan on trying to pull it apart today if I can rig up a puller.

can these 3 cylinder lower unit carriers be pulled with a slide hammer or is that only on the bigger 4 and 6 cylinder motors?

[99yam40]

OK I managed to get the shift shaft and housing out, but was not able to get the carrier housing out yet.

I Need to make sure I can use a slide hammer on prop shaft to pull carrier before I go that way.
Rod can you give me that info?

I put lower into neutral when I pulled it, and made sure it was in the neutral indent before I removed the shift shaft housing.
when I pulled the shift shaft itself out, it had resistance when sliding the shaft out, and the lower went into gear even though I did not rotate the shaft. the Shaft is bent at the splines where it goes into the cam I think.
I will post a picture.
Can someone tell me how that much force can be generated to do this damage?
I thought all the shift shaft does is move the clutch dog, so load from drive shaft or prop shaft would not come into play

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Ouch!!

Someone forced the snot out of it!

I would think your 40HP manual LU should be close to the same. I would compare it to the parts fisch for this motor.

Don't know the year for this one, I think it was maybe a 2000?

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Ya...201/parts.html

[99yam40]

OK guys I am back looking for the answer to the question about if the carrier can be pulled by using slide hammer attached to prop shaft on this C60TLRY.
Or is that not advisable?

What say ye Rodbolt

[rodbolt17]

yep you can slide hammer it out.

also use some heat.

typically, if you look at the twist real careful,
it was most likely done when someone shifted into REV without either the driveshaft or propshaft turning.

its spring loaded for FWD.
if nothing is rotating and you go for REV and the dogs line up ontop of each other, bent, actually twisted, splines are the result.

[99yam40]

Thanks Rod,
I have a friend that retired and closed up his boat business here in Clute Texas that may have some pullers that he said might work on this lower carrier, but if not I will get an adapter made for a slide hammer and go that route

This thing is stubborn