Re: Gettin into the lower unit

[jeff-register]

Hag,
Sounds like your ring gear is running to high or your pinion gear is too low. What shims did you find when you took it apart. Sounds like someone before you has messed up the alignment. I have made a few tools for removing the carrier nut. Go to a junk yard & get a piece of metal & drill a hole for the prop shaft then drill two holes for the pins. It works great if the metal .5" thick or more to hold the pins straight.
Look for the shims in the old lower unit & save them, you will need them to set up the new gears. Takes time to set them up correctly, have your book sent to you. Have you ever set up a Mercury gearset? If you take a 7/16 6 point box end wrench & sand the rounded side of the box end until it has no bevel & straight 90 degree config the pinion bolt will seat much better & not slip off. Use a vice grip on the driveshaft to keep it from turning it will come off. If I was you I would use the pinion & ring gears together as your old gears may have transferred damage to the other meshing gear, worth a look at any rate. Do not put pressure against the gearcase with the wrench you run the risk of breaking a chunk out too. The Mercury gearcases are thinner than OMC stuff too.
Jeff