Yamaha F100 lower unit troubles

[awildseahorse]

Hey everybody, 

After discovering a problem with the lower unit of my 1999 F100, I ended up having to replace it. I ordered a new one from Texas Outboards (great price, speedy delivery) and installed the new water pump kit, but I can't seem to get the unit to seat properly. I have the drive shaft splines aligned so that the shaft can engage the powerhead, but the shift shaft splines seem to be out of alignment. I have to put the shift lever (704 remote) into forward to get the unit to seat, but the unit itself is still in neutral (prop shaft freely spins forwards and backwards). 

Has anyone had any issues like this, or have any suggestions? I've changed the water pumps on a few Yamaha motors before without issues and just wanted to check with the forum before I take it to a mechanic with my tail between my legs.

Thanks!

[jason p]

You can turn the shift shaft on the lower unit to forward-neutral-reverse with some channel lock pliers, just wrap some masking tape around the shaft so you don't damage it. It only turns about an 1/8th turn so don't go crazy. The detents are pretty pronounced so you'll know when you're there. You might have to move the prop shaft one away or the other to get it to fully engage into gear. 

[FINCHASER]

Id get a piece of leather or tape and wrap around the shift shaft on LU... then with pliers move it left and right to make sure its in neutral.  you may have to spin prop slightly to get it to shift, but you should feel 3 distinct positions F-N-R

[awildseahorse]

So, I ended up having to disconnect the shift linkage in the motor and adjust its length so that the F-N-R positions on the 704 remote matched up with the positions on the LU. I compared the shift shaft on the new LU to the old LU, and the splines lined up differently. It was pretty straight forward once I figured that out. Hope this helps any one in similar issues.