drive overheating and will not shift

[kevtrus]

Just put a new 106 on my boat to replace the old alpha 1. Did not even get away from the dock and the shift cable broke. Still wanting to test the drive so I opened the engine cover a shifted from the engine. The drive shifted ok so I left the dock. Got only 3/4 of a mile and something did not sound right so I stopped and walked to the back of the boat and looked at the drive. It was still in gear and nothing looked wrong, but then I noticed a puff of smoke come off the top of the drive. I felt it and it was very hot. I then tried to put it in neutral but it would go from forward directly into reverse like it had no neutral and was very hard to shift. My motor is cooled from a scuffer on the bottom of the boat and does not come through the foot. Th impeller on the foot is new (factory) and I only have about 20 min. on the drive. Why is my drive over heating and so hard to shift? I have the proper amount and weight of oil in the drive. Mine also has a loud whine but I have re powered with a new engine (drop in), Gimbel bearing, out drive, the works. The whole back end of the vessel is new so I do not think it is the bearing whining.

[Technical Support]

It sounds like you have a couple of things going on. As far as the shifting goes, I would say that your shift cut out switch is probably not working. It is designed to stall the engine slightly as you are pulling the drive out of gear. My guess is this is what caused your broken shift cable. The switch is mounted on the shift plate on the engine. Hopefully your drop in engine has the cutout switch.

As far as the drive overheating, the smoke you saw is probably steam. The top cover will be fairly warm. The drive has a water passage that goes through the upper housing. Since you now have an engine mounted pump for cooling, where does the water go that the lower unit is pumping? Most people T the water line with the thru-hull for the engine mounted pump so you still get some flow through the outdrive.

The whining is typical for new gears and should quiet down with use.