Shifting Problems Into Neutral

[SteveTheNinja]

I purchased and installed a new SE106 upper and lower unit a couple of months ago. The drive probably has 10 hours on it now. I was attempting to trailer the boat last weekend, shifting into forward and back into reverse a few times, and then I had a problem. The boat would not shift into neutral. I ended up running my boat up onto the concrete ramp because I couldn't get it to back up. After shutting off the engine and putting it back into neutral, I can shift into reverse, but not back into neutral.
Basically, shutting off the engine allows me to put it into neutral. From there, I can go into forward or reverse, but not back to neutral. The shifter seems like it is stuck in gear. It doesn't go into the neutral position until I shut off the engine. What would cause this issue? I have not tried shifting with the boat out of the water yet. I am just hoping my drive is not damaged.

Thanks

[admin]

My guess is it will shift fine on land, and that is because your shift bracket is most likely bad. You cam verify that by tripping the switch while the engine is running. The engine should stall, if not it is bad. The switch is located on the engine mounted shift bracket.

Tech Support

[SteveTheNinja]

I checked to see if it worked out of the water and you were right, it works just fine. I also checked the switch that kills the motor and it works just fine. Pressing the switch causes the motor to stall. Out of the water it shifted just fine into neutral and both directions. Any other suggestions on things I should check?

[Bt Doctur]

switch

I believe the roller coming out of the V groove should only move an 1/8th inch or so to stall the motor.There is an adjustment for the arm. You can verify this by backing the boat into the water but leave it attached to the trailer.start engine and watch the shift plate coming out of gear, If the plate moves the roller from the V and does not stall the motor, then apply finger pressure to make it stall.
I`ll look for the adjustment link.
page 1C-44 describes the process. http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6C1R3.PDF