My shift cable broke today and the drive is in neutral. It is my understanding the drive has to be in forward gear to be removed. I would like to do this repair myself. Is it possible to shift the drive to forward gear by hand to allow drive removal.

it doesent matter.its has a claspe thingy that you have to open up to release the cable end.

Thanks for the help. This doesn't seem to difficult.

Just did one today with our friend from Wuzup racing engines at my house. THe hardest part he had was getting the old housing out and the new one in. Make sure that the old one is clear of any chafe gaurd or do like he did and cut the out side end off and pull it thru from the inside. He also had trouble with the old threaded part of the housing on the drive which he just took a 3/4 drill bit and drilled the old nut off.

look at 18 and 14
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_...ift+Components


make sure that you route the cable in a way that it won't touch the coupler.On the brass nut I use a long skinny craftsman wrench.