Loss of Forward Gear

[amberjack]

I purchased a SE 106 lower unit Nov 2004 but did not install it until summer of 2006 when I repowered with two new 5.0 L mercruisers. All went well until last trip of the season when I lost foward gear in the drive. The boat was used less than 10 hrs. last season. At haul-out I had the drive pulled and it appeared that the shift shaft when manually engaged would not engage forward unless forcefully pushed past the center mark. Since the lower was purchased in '04 (although not installed) I realize that it is out of warranty. I had my mechanic disassemble it and upon initial inspection everything looked ok. reassembly brought the same problem. Thinking it might be the shift spool my mechanic again disassembled and upon further inspection he noticed that the interior pawls (don't know the technical term) where the clutch dog engages the gear seemed to have excessive wear. When we compared the gear to a oem mecruiser gear it looks like although your gear seems to be heavier the area described above is somewhat different from the oem mercruiser. Can I replace the gear with an oem mercruiser or do I have to replace the entire gear set? Has anyone else experienced this type of problem with such little usage? Any thoughts on how to avoid this in the future?

[Tech Support]

You can use OEM gears as replacements in our units. Excessive clutch dog wear is usually due to slow shifting or idle set too high.

Tech Support

[amberjack]

Thanks for your prompt reply
I can assure you that neither of those two conditions occurred. The motor was new and set to factory specs including idle speed. I am an experienced boater and know how to shift gears. Besides, the new motors have shift assists and the spring loaded shift assist make it kind of hard to shift slowly.
Even if the conditions you suggest did occur with so little hours on the lower there should not have been so much wear.

After debating about what to do next I have decided against purchasing a replacement from you and instead will opt for a rebuild with oem parts. It will cost me a bit more but at least I will be sure of what is inside. If you are interested I will send you the old components and/or photos for you to inspect. FYI the serial number on the lower is 03433.

Hopefully my experience was an isolated one. I really would like to see a company such as yours succeed as your product would fill a much needed niche. It is in that spirit that I post this reply.