Towards the end of last summer I was having a problem shifting into forward. My port motor would work just fine, but my starboard shifter would not shift out of neutral into forward. The shifter itself would not go forward. It was like something was jammed up inside the shifter that was preventing it from moving forward. I could get it to engage forward by shifting into reverse first, then forward. Shifters are mercury 4 lever. Is this is a problem with the shifter or the cables? I'm repowering this spring and the motors are currently out. I was hoping to solve this problem before the new engines go in. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

unhook shifter cable on the transom bracket, see how the shifter feels then, if ok, then you have a issue in the lower cable, lingage in the drive, or the drive itself...if still feels funkey, pull it out take a look and unhook cable there and see what you have...Rob

i had the same problem and it was my cone clutch

Its the cable, cone clutch or linkage inside the drive.
Here is a thread with info http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...-shifting.html

Pulled the cone clutch, felt like it was pretty locked up and not working properly. It was full of gunk and some corrosion on the ball. Pulled the good side and it was in a lot better shape. Thanks a lot for the help guys.

Try moving the shifter now that the dirve is off, just to make sure you found the trouble. When I had the same thing it was the cable from the bracket to the drive.