1981 Johnson 35 HP "slipping" while in forward

Ok, I am not good at describing whats going on so I will do my best....

Was out fishing today and on the way back I heard a sound like I hit something (didn't really hit anything) then I started hearing noises coming from what sounded like the prop. I ended up limping it back to the dock and went home.

When I got home I was wondering if my prop spun, so I took off the prop and ran it with the ears. Put it in Forward and low and behold the prop shaft (no prop on) would spin then stop, then spin then stop, and I was hearing a funky noise. So I throw it back in neutral and all is fine. I throw it in reverse to see if it does it and reverse seems fine, no issues.

I then proceed to "troubleshoot" the issue by putting it into forward again. Funny thing is (and probably most important detail) is I can move the shift lever back towards neutral (not all the way but just right before it shifts back into neutral) and the shaft spins fine, and noise is faint/gone.

Any ideas?

 

Ok, sounds like I should start with the oil. I will drain it tomorrow and see what it looks like. If I have metal shavings does that pretty much mean its the gear/clutch dog?

 

Thanks but fortunately/unfortunately it is tiller driven.

 

Alright, this is going to be somewhat long, but should be informative enough to get the point across.

First up, here is a couple pictures of the motor with the cover off.






When in neutral notice that this white "lever" is in the central position



This is what it looks like in forward



And this is what it looks like in reverse



Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me with that when I am shifting gears. I simply put those up for reference on how I believe it works.


Here is where I "think" lies the problem. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong as I am no outboard mechanic, simply just a hands-on kinda guy.

This black rod sticks this far up when in neutral (which seems fine to me)



Then when in reverse it sits flush. I have no problems with the motor in reverse, it runs fine.



Then when in forward it sits about 1/8" to 1/4" (guess) below.



This is where I think the problem lies because as said in the first post, when running in forward it seems to "slip" but when I pull the lever back towards neutral without going into neutral it seems to spin fine. Pulling the lever back towards neutral would cause that black rod to move up and sit flush like how reverse does.

Let me know what you guys think.