Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Proper shift linkage adjustment 1972 18 hp Evinrude › Re: Proper shift linkage adjustment 1972 18 hp Evinrude
Easy.
With the faces of the dog and gear slightly beveled applied torque causes them to slide away from each other overcoming the detents’ ability to hold them together.
The detent doesn’t really do much to hold the dog in place anyway.
It is important to have the detent set so the dog face that is perpendicular to the prop shaft is pushed firmly up against the gear face that is also perpendicular to the prop shaft. When this is set correctly and the gear shift is in forward and the prop is rocked backwards and forwards a slight friction is felt. This is how it is assured that the dog is fully pushed into the gear and their two surfaces have as much contact to each other as possible.
On some of these motors the forward and reverse gears can be swapped if the bushing inserts are moved one to the other. The reverse gear almost always shows less wear. Along with reversing the shift dog this may be a fix that would work for you.
Bear in mind that this is my current understanding of how this system works and am seeking a more complete understanding.