Reverse out - Not shift rod

('88 90hp yamaha) At least i dont think its the shift rod. pulled it out and its looks stright, no twists, no rust, looks brand new. when i turn the shift gear on the lower unit, and then turn the drive shaft, all 3 positions work correctly.....forward turns the prop, reverse turns it the other way and neautral dosent turn. it is a little harder to get it into reverse and there is a little click when it goes. b4 the motor was taken apart, and it was running, when i would try to put it in reverse the linkage at the motor would chatter at the very back of its rear position....like it was trying to get in reverse and it just needed to go a little more b4 it made it....but then it would throw itself forward....so imagine that happening fast and repeatedly and thats what i meant by chatter. this all originally happend when i put it into reverse too quickly after having it at fast idle. and, again b4 i had it apart, when in the water reverse turned a little....not enuf for power, but enuf to steer if you weren't in any wind or had any momentum. any ideas????

[jb123]

unhook cables at motor, run on hose at idle and engage F & R by hand....if it wont stay in gear by manually engaging then your unit will need work. if it DOES stay in gear then your cables need adjusting.

After researching my original problem it seemed the answer was the shift rod got bent. So I already pulled the powerhead and lower unit to replace that. But that’s not the problem. Before taking it apart I pushed the shift linkage all the way to the back of the bracket while it was running. This is when I experienced the chattering that I described above. So, if I am remembering correctly, it was back as far as it could go and still not engaging. So if my lower unit does need work, what are some likely culprits to look for? There’s never been any significant amount of metal in the gear oil.