Thread: 200 efi Mercury. 2000 clutch actuator rod

Had my boat out lost forward gear. Pulled lower unit and found I broke the head of the clutch actuator rod. Is this a common issue? Should I be worried about anything else? Just kind of curious how this happens and if it's usually caused from damage to any others parts.
I never hit anything with the motor, did shift into forward a little funny right before it broke. Looking to see if anything else needs to be replaced before I deal back up lower end.

clutch actuator rod??????

Are you referring to the adapter that connects the shift shaft?

That would be what I'm talking about. It completely snapped off at the neck. Needless to say I was unable to get the motor to lock in forward gear.

A pic of the damage would be a big help. The only damage I've ever seen was from an improper install of the lower unit. The problem is caused by the installer using the lower unit's securing hardware to pull the unit up and flush with the midsection during re-assembly. If the splines aren't properly aligned, the opposing s/s shafts will spread the aluminum adapter. The adapter will either split and break during assembly or will split but maintain a level of integrity until stressed by the torsional pressure of shifting in and out of gear.

Was it split or sheared?


I'm going to jump ahead on this because I've only seen them break in one manner.
How long ago did you have the lower unit off, prior to this problem?

Just about a year prior. Changed water pump. Put probably 50-60 hours on it last year no issues what so ever. Sat for the winter and boom. And it was sheared clean off.

Yep... seen it many times. The old style upper shafts had the adapter pressed on. Those were a pain to replace. Mercury came out with that loose adapter to speed the repair process up when it happened. That motor should be placed into forward gear before the lower is removed. When re-installing, turn the adapter by hand in a clockwise fashion while turning the prop backwards. This will provide full forward gear engagement. As you 'stab' the lower unit, instead of trying to turn the flywheel, simply turn the prop backwards (very important to turn backwards only). This will rotate the driveshaft for engagement into the crankshaft. It will then move up to contact the shiftshaft. Put eyes on the upper shaft to ensure it is going to drop into the adapter. Push upward with hand pressure only. It will go if and when everything is lined up. I do see the occasional ill adjusted shift cable that requires additional steps but that is only on motors that are not adjusted properly to begin with.

Get a replacement adapter and take your time going back together. If you will trim the motor up to a shallow water drive position, you can rest the skeg on your knee to ease the stress of all that weight while focusing on the task at hand.

I would say that's exactly what happened. I've never been taught the "proper way" on these motors. I would spin the fly wheel until I could get the lower unit, I would say 7/8 of the way up, then tighten the bolts for the last little gap.

Should I be worried about any other parts being damaged?

I would service the lower unit lube. The only issue I really see is that for the time it's been ran, the shift adjustment was off to some degree. If you never heard a constant 'clicking' noise while in neutral or had any trouble with it popping out of gear, you should be ok.