# Alpha 1 gen 2 problem.



## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Alpha one gen two- Resealed the upper and lower drive,replaced impeller and gaskets on all. Put back together(in forward gear) now it won't shift in reverse or neutral. The notch on boat is lined up and shift rod is in proper position. So looking for ideas before pulling. Thinking I should pull lower unit to see if boat shifts. If not then it would be in upper. But I can't see how. But has me thinking can the shifter rod in the lower go in more then one way and still line up to boat? Well hoping some one can save me some work and a couple new gaskets and seals.


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

I believe their is a certain way those go back together now that you bring this up.

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## captk (Mar 13, 2008)

sounds like you moved the lower shift shaft. you need to separate the cases and rotate the shaft.


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## wave warrior (Oct 2, 2005)

captk said:


> sounds like you moved the lower shift shaft. you need to separate the cases and rotate the shaft.


i agree, just went thru this last week!


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

Yep, agree with these guys. You won't ruin any seals when you drop the lower. Hope you didn't put lube in it yet. When I have to drop the lower unit, I always shift the motor into forward first. The service manual says to shift to neutral, but that is only required if you are going to be replacing gears. What this gets you is, when it's time to reinstall the lower unit, you slide the prop on the prop shaft, and you can turn the prop to realign the drive shaft so that the drive shaft slides in place into the upper unit/power head (outboard). At this point, after you pull the lower unit, shift the throttle/shifter to forward. See in what direction the shift shaft on the midsection turns. Adjust the shift shaft on the lower in the same direction. Then, reinstall the lower unit. 

By the way, you need to have someone turn the prop by hand if the motor is not running to be able to shift into gear with the lower unit installed. From your post, I understand you to say you can't shift from forward to neutral. If this is the case, you do not need to have someone hand turn the prop going from fwd to neutral. But, you do if you are in neutral and want to go to fwd or reverse. 

With the motor as she sits, will the prop turn freely right now? If so, the lower is in neutral regardless of the shifter at the helm. Can you turn the prop clockwise under tension and feel it click? Then, it should be in fwd. If the lower is in fwd, you shouldn't be able to turn the prop counter clockwise. The reverse is true when the lower is in reverse. On some motors you can do this while others will lock the prop in either direction.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

the manual i used when i first started changing waterpumps which was many yrs ago, said to put the shifter in the forward gear before you started. then make sure the lower unit was in forward gear before putting it back together. that way if you get the lower unit up to where the teeth on the shaft is not lining up you can turn the prop backwards just alittle and it will turn the shaft until it aligns with the upper teeth letting the lower unit go on.

to make sure it is in forward gear, when you turn the prop backwards it will turn the shaft. if you turn the prop forward it should just make a clicking noise.

sometimes if you have somebody to help you, you can just drop the lower unit down far enough to turn the little shift rod with a pair of needlenose pliers. then turn it untill you are in forward gear and make sure the shifter handle is in forward and then just slide it back up. if it doesnt want to go turn the prop backwards while trying to lift the lower unit untill the prop wont turn anymore. once the teeth are lined up and started going together the prop wont turn backwards anymore.

i tried to explane this as best as i could. just hope i didnt confuse you. and hope it helps. please keep us posted. if i didnt live so far away from you i would come show you how to do it.

i got real good at it one time i smoked the pump while working on the motor and didnt turn the water back on. i changed the bad impeller first. but that didnt fix it. so i changed it again just in case i got a bad impeller. that didnt fix it. so i pulled the lower unit again then dropped the outdrive. then replaced all the hoses and run a wire through the line going through the transom to make sure a piece of the old impeller wasnt blocking the water lines. that didnt fix it. so a guy that i had chartered out with on erie also worked on boats. he asked if i had tried replacing the pump housing. so i pulled it again and replaced the botton wear plate and the pump housing and another impeller. this time it was fixed. i guess i had got it so hot when i run it without any water it had damaged the housing. by then i could change the pump in less than an hour. and have changed many of them since then. and most of them by myself.
sherman


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Well the terminology is killing me as I don't know it LOL. The drive is mounted on the boat.
Prop is still off
The bent lever in the lower part of the drive is inserted in the shifter part on boat and facing forward.
But when pulling into nuetral or reverse the shifter up front only goes so far with out back pressure.
Had every thing in forward when pulled and thought so when put back.
The drive mounted to the housing easily with no hammering or kicking.
So since the top is in all the way.
The linkage is connected
I feel some how the linkage arm in the lower half of drive is in the wrong position.
Thats all Im sure of. Now can we try this in baby language and in baby steps LOL. Maybe I will be able to follow them. I can see where lowering the bottom half and turning linkage will help as its all ready in the right position. Now I can see where when I put the shifter seal in bottom half of drive I could have inserted the rod in the right direction with the drive in the wrong gear. Does that make sense or am I wrong? So I'm thinking that means dropping the bottom of the drive and pulling the shifter and seal back out. After putting bottom half in forward, The inserting rod making sure it's pointing straight ahead. If I'm right let me know. If not give me a kick and tell me were I'm wrong. Not trying to be stubborn but trying to learn why I do what I do. So I know the proper way. I thank every one for helping. It's worth it's weight in gold!


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## captk (Mar 13, 2008)

I cant find my manual for gen2s but you are on track. the lower unit shift rod is spilned on the bottom and mates to the shift crank. The crank moves the clutch dog from fwd to neut and rev. if you got the splines out of sync it doesnt shift. Go to Iboats.com and down load a factory service Manual, the after markets are not worth a damn. You dont realy have a big deal just time agravation and a new experience. best of luck Bill


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Kind of what I figured. And really I dont mind the extra work as bad as I let on. I am an old stubborn man who has to bang his head into a wall sometimes to get info in. But once in lesson learned. LOL






captk said:


> I cant find my manual for gen2s but you are on track. the lower unit shift rod is spilned on the bottom and mates to the shift crank. The crank moves the clutch dog from fwd to neut and rev. if you got the splines out of sync it doesnt shift. Go to Iboats.com and down load a factory service Manual, the after markets are not worth a damn. You dont realy have a big deal just time agravation and a new experience. best of luck Bill


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## captk (Mar 13, 2008)

My guess is you will not make this mistake Again. as we age we have made most mistakes already and still we learn. good luck with your drive, Bill


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Ok well Got it back together and it works fine. It was the shaft,it was turned and inserted wrong but in 35 minuted had the lower off, pulled out shaft and resealed and assembled. Filled with gear oil. Hooked up muffs and fired her up. Every thing looks great. Only thing left is put here in the water to check for leaks and adjust my new pro troller tabs. After letting her run and hour and adjusting carb and warming up. I changed oil and filter. So before leaving figured I better go over the trailer also. Well got bearing buddys on it. I think these things are really bad for some people who don't understand. Looked like he just kept pupping the bearings full of grease and never cleaned and packed or even checked.Took the outer bearing out and cleaned it. It had chips and pitting as bad as any i seen. Inside didnt look bad but i don't like change one. So all new bearings and seals too. The bearing them self had worn so much they were not all even above the cage. LOL Went to put tires on and found a slit in the side wall right along the rim and bead. Started looking and some one put 4 ply Radial auto tires on with 2 ply side walls. Well guess I know why the spare side wall was blown and the one on the boat ready to go. So ordered three new tires also. 6 ply trailer tires. Found three blown fuses and had to fix some wires. Neither bilge pump was working or even his ship to shore radio. 3 fire extinguisher and all no good. Well figured some maintenance but not really this much. But every thing is fixed and fixed right now. And I know what point every thing is to start. So should be a nice safe summer. I am beginning to think Id been better off if he hadn't try maintaining the boat him self. You would think a Coast guard man would at least have all thee safety things working good. And I'm not sure what he did when he worked at the Marina,but i sure hope he didn't wrench. LOL


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Good move on replacing bearings by the pair... hope you replaced the races too.


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

KaGee said:


> Good move on replacing bearings by the pair... hope you replaced the races too.


Thanks Kagee!
Well as an auto mechanic for over 20 years I seen a lot of people try it and fail. if you have a bad bearing in a wheel and it starts chattering it will wear out the other. And as far as the other wheel my theory is if one sides worn the other cant be far behind. LOL Same goes for universal joints. Never change just one. LOL


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Sorry Viper, I forgot you are a mechanic... maybe the shade-tree mechanics out there will read this and learn. As for the both wheel theory, I agree. I had an exception one time in that a blown seal had let water into one side and corrosion started... I pulled the other side and after inspection those bearing were fine so I only replaced the one side.

Now get that thing in the water and go fishing!


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

KaGee said:


> Sorry Viper, I forgot you are a mechanic... maybe the shade-tree mechanics out there will read this and learn. As for the both wheel theory, I agree. I had an exception one time in that a blown seal had let water into one side and corrosion started... I pulled the other side and after inspection those bearing were fine so I only replaced the one side.
> 
> Now get that thing in the water and go fishing!


Not the case here. I have seen some bad bearings but none like these. The bearings of coarse had chips and cracks. But the whole individual bearing had worn down to the point it was below the cage on most of them.So it was mostly cage riding the race. The bearing about fell apart when I took them in my hand even with grease real thick on them. LOL We drug that boat from Michigan to Salem Ohio! No noises scraping or any thing. Towed like it was perfect. We are going to dock at Conneaut this year. About 100 mile each way. My buddy almost talked me into doing it before I did this. Good thing i didn't. Even had to replace tire with a 4 inch cut in side wall.Only posted so some of the people may learn from it. Maintaining some thing isnt after it breaks or when you get time. To me its as important as dressing in the morning before going out. LOl


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

sounds like with alittle extra time and effort and some $$$$ you are ready for the water. just glad you found those wheel bearings in time. they sure can mess up a trip if they go a 100 miles from nowhere. good luck this year.
sherman


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