Reverse

[carolina]

I have a 1990 Yamaha 2000 that click when engaged in reverse and also when it seems to go into reverse there is no real thrust present for the reverse gear, that is, the prop can easily be stopped with a hand foot or other object. Not that I put may hand on it but there is no torque at all at the prop. any thoughts would be helpful. forward seems to be working ok and not clicking. 800rpms

[Operaman]

OK, Just going through this myself. The shift rod on our motors is NOT stainless steel. It is carbon steel that rusts away to nothing over time. My 89 just started acting up the end of last week. I thought it was a cable going bad, adjusted it to get more throw to reverse and also get the clicking to stop when I went from fwd to neutral. Had to go almost to reverse to get into neutral. Now I have no reverse. Dropping it off at the shop today. The power head has to come off to service the shift rod. In my opinion it is the only poor design on this motor I have observed in my short time owning it. Strap in, the labor is where the money is. Could be 2 hrs or 6 hrs, depending on how the bolts come off the motor.

[carolina]

Someone suggested that it might be the clutch dog or something like that sine I had a carb problem and had some hard shifts from forward to reverse, but I guess that could have killed the shaft also. Also, have a crack in the prop housing of the lower units that seems to be increasing so I'm thinking new lower unit or replacement of a 16 year old motor with a new four stroke. Any ideas or comments are welcomed.

[slim]

ok first to operaman. its possible that the powerhead doesnt have to come off but just the intake. what motor do you have again?. as to carolina. yes wearing your clutchdog down is possible and is caused mostly from shifting into gear slow. it should be done quick. this takes a little getting used to though learning when the shift stops and throttle starts. it could also be your prop hub also. shift into reverse and turn the prop backwards. if the prop shaft turns then its the lower unit. if it doesnt turn then its the prop. is there a popping sound when turning?

[Operaman]

Hey slim. 89 225 excel. You know, I will look at that. You can see it and touch it. You have me thinking. It is definately shot. Rusted and worn down pretty good at the lower mount where you can see the shift rod.

[carolina]

so slim if its not the prop hub is there any other diagnostics to consider or just get the new motor or new lower unit since I have a pretty bad crack in the prop housing. One person said I could weld the housing another says forget another says drill a hole and use JB Weld. any thoghts. Thanks again to everyone.

[Operaman]

Slim, I looked. Definately power head Remove and Replace to get at the rod. Dropped it off. We will see. Thanks

Carolina. I have heard of welding the bottom skeg with success. Same material so why not weld away? There is pressure in there, but not that much. Hope it works out.

[slim]

operaman. if it has verticle and not horizontal reads, you can change it without pulling the powerhead.

[slim]

yeh carolina you can have it welded if they know what they are doing. we have had lots of success down here on the coast if done right. if its not the prop hub it is most likely the clutch dog. if the rest of the motor is in good shape, i would opt for a new complete lower unit. this is just my opinion but i am gonna stay away from 4 strokes as long as possible. its to easy to fix the 2 strokes and much cheaper.

[Operaman]

slim. How would I know? It is at the shop now. Only thing I can hope for now is that they don't charge or do labor that is not warranted. I did see that the block separates( looks like the bottom of the crank cover ) from the powerhead where the heads are( spark plugs ). What do ya think? Thanks

[slim]

i think you should call them tomorrow and ask them if your motor has vertical or horizontal reeds. i cant remember since its been a year since i have even worked on a motor much less a excel. if they say it is vertical reeds, then tell them they can remove the intake and l.u., pry forward with a big flat screwdriver on the top of the shift rod to bend it out past the front block half and pull it up. then push the new rod back down with the help of lots of grease on the block half where it rubs on the bottom. you would think it would bend going back in but it doesnt and is much much easier and much much cheaper then pulling the powerhead. replace the intake with a new gasket and reinstall the lower unit. i have done about 10 this way with all being successful.

[VinceG]

I had similar problem with old shift rod rusting out. First started noticing could not get into reverse easly. I just figured since I had just installed on a used boat the cables needed adjusting. I guess the rod had rusted enough to allow it to twist until it finally broke off and was stuck in forward. Lucky for me it did not break in neutral out in the swamps. When I started engine at the boat launch, it started forward up onto the bank, while in neutral position!! I was very lucky! I killed it just before engine was up on the bank. I pushed boat off and cranked it up going into the river in forward gear. Even in neutral it was moving forward still. If I moved control to reverse, it just increased speed going forward. I new something wasn't right. I went fishing all day and figured I would check when I got back. Took the 6 bolts off the lower unit and removed it with the broken corroded shift rod shaft. This is on a 115EATO engine. It looks like the only way to change the shaft out is to remove the powerhead. Anyone have experience removing 115 V4 powerhead? Looks like very time consuming.

[jb123]

as long as the mount bolts come its about 2 hrs to pull it and be sure to use plenty of never seize when reinstallin them.

[Operaman]

Got it back and consider myself lucky. Including short haul and parts I was in the 600+ something neiborhood. 5.5 hours
I say it looked clean to work on and it was. Only one sturborn bolt that took some heat.
When I picked it up I saw him doing another one, this time with an air hammer and drilling holes in the block to get the bolts free. I said, not like mine huh? He said, no, nothing like yours. I took a test run for 35 mins easy and when I came back he was still at it. Thanks for all the help.

[slim]

to all of yall with a v6 with horizontal reeds. you dont have to pull the powerhead to remove the shift rod. all you have to pull is the intake. its still gonna take a few hours but no where near expensive as pulling a powerhead with stuck bolts.