lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

i bought a lower unit , alpha one gen on for my boat off of ebay. my other lower unit still worked but the casing is pretty eatin up, the previous owner had let it sit in the river with not trim tab for quite some time,

anyhow, i put the new lower unit on my boat like everyone says by shifting it in forward, and locking the prop in so it stays in forward, and everything goes together just fine. however, you cannot shift the shifter into reverse. , if i have the shifter in reverse,, reinstall the lower unit, i can easily shift the shifter in forward and reverse. my question is, did i buy a counter rotation outdrive? how would i know this? now that i own it, can i re gear it with the gears out of my old lower unit?


the owner of the ebay out drive did not specify if it was counter rotation or not, just that it was a alpha one gen one lower.

is there something im doing wrong here?

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

This my sound silly but there are a few good videos on YouTube in installing the Alpha. They make better sense to me than the Merc book! I know the first time I had the Aloha off on my buddies boat it was a pain in the butt to get that shift lever on in the correct position.

If its a left hand rotation it might be stamped somewhere on the port side of the "mercruiser" decal of the out drive. I don't recall if that is the case though

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

i did some research on the counter outdrives, there are a few differences, anyway, i dont thing that is what i have now, it looks identical to what i had.

There has to be something stupid im doing , or missing. again, i have no problems keeping the prop locked ini forward and no problem getting the splines to index, hell i spent so much time dicking with it yesterday i was able to do it all myself. the issue is, when you lay behind the outdrive, and you at the shift connection . the c channel /shoe that comes from the shift cable that connects to the shift shaft via that bronze piece , when you shift the boat in forward, that c channel/shoe is straight, when you turn it in REVERSE, its at a 40 to 45 degree angle . my problem is , when i put the outdrive back in with the shifter in forward, i can get it all connected, but i cant pull the shifter back in the reverse position, because the shift shaft wants to turn the OPPOSITE direction to engage reverse on the outdrive. I think my issue is setting that bronze connection piece different to both the outdrive and the shifter turn in the same 45 degree direction in order to engage reverse. i just cant figure out what is wrong.

no where does it seem to cover this issue on you tube, alot of the videos are for gen 2 units,

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

I apologize Philly! I for some reason thought you were talking the newer Alpha. I don't have experience with the first gen unit. You might have some luck looking on iBoats site.

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

no problem.
a few sites have some bits and pieces of info, im gonna give it another shot tonight, otherwise i may need to take her to a mechanic and embarrass:confused: myself

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

I am having the same problem now, not being able to shift in reverse so I am in the process of putting in a new cable kit in to resolve my issue. The one I have now is dated back to 1992 and I am sure it's bad one way or the other! Let me know how your progress has gone with your out drive and I will keep you posted as well. :-)

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

I have reverse now. :-) Put new shift cable in and cleaned and regreased the small shaft that the cable end rolls back and forth to shift gears in lower unit. I found salt crystals around the shaft that was causing the shifter to drag heavy and it was part of the problem.

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Re: lower unit is it counter rotation?
 

my shift cable needed adjustment after a new lower was put on. sounds pretty typical! good luck