1969 4hp Merc shifter handle
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- This topic has 5 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by billw.
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January 13, 2022 at 6:12 pm #252867
when I reassembled my 4hp after the impeller job things got confusing shifter wise.
should the shifter be positionned horizontally for neutrel…FWD being UP and reverse being DOWN
or should the shifter be vertical 90 degrees …in that scenario putting the shifter handle towards the front puts the engine in reverse which is illogical
and if I push the lever to the back the engine (gears) goes forward mode
I have looked at a couple of utbes and seen ….
a) horizontal = neutral UP = forward down = reverse which is ok I guess
b) Vertical = neutral forward = forward back = reverse
which should it be….?
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- This topic was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by crosbyman.
January 14, 2022 at 5:27 am #252892Like so many Mercury things, there was a change at some point in time; so the handles can be found to operate either way. Earlier ones had the handle horizontal, with up being forward and down being reverse. Later ones had the handle vertical in neutral, with the more intuitive forward movement being forward and back being reverse. This change was made easily, because all they had to do was flip the shift cam in the lower unit over, so instead of facing to port, it faced to starboard or vs versa, I forget. If your engine would shift into forward if a vertical handle was moved aft, then your handle should be positioned horizontally in neutral.
Long live American manufacturing!
- This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by billw.
January 14, 2022 at 8:32 am #252894I had removed the shifter handle to properly apply a strip of new chrome tape all around the cowl and since it had rubbed off the original tape over the years due to side friction I installed a small spacer washer before reasembling everything . I assumed it was vertical to begin with but things took a turn when I installed the LU finding it illogical to push it back to forward propeller wise.
I rotated the shifter 90 degrees to horizontal and now………… UP is forward and Down is Reverse
whomever buys that refurbished oldy won’t know the difference 🙂
thanks for info.
Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂
- This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by crosbyman.
January 15, 2022 at 5:33 am #252934If it wore through the stripe when being in the vertical neutral position, it was probably installed wrong when you first got it. You have it on right, now.Here is a 3.9 that is right.
https://capecod.craigslist.org/boa/d/west-wareham-39hp-mercury-outboard/7419888150.htmlLong live American manufacturing!
- This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by billw.
January 15, 2022 at 8:37 am #252937yep… exactly how I have it now 🙂
thanks for pics
btw… U$ prices are crazy… $400 US is about $500 CDN !!! and I paid about 70$…could have been $100 CDN don’t recall exactly
but in U$…we are talking $60 to $80 for a 4hp Merc1969AllI I did was fix the recoil and impeller on it 🙂 gearcase checks out at 15psi and 10psi vacum
Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂
January 15, 2022 at 1:22 pm #252945I was just using that example for the pictures. Whoever is trying to sell that motor is insane. They will never get $400 for that around here, in a million years. Maybe $100 if he was lucky. There is a guy also on Cape Cod Craigslist trying to sell an Evinrude Super Fastwin that has probably seen salt. It’s like, 1953 vintage, or so. He started out asking $800. I wrote him and said, you know, I don’t mean to be rude but if you brought that to a gathering of antique outboard enthusiasts, you couldn’t get $50 for it. He wrote back and said, thank you for your opinion. He relisted it for $300; and it has been on there for at least a year now, unsold. There is a lot of that on our local CL. I don’t really understand it. I guess they are waiting for that one sucker.
Long live American manufacturing!
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