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I took off the lower unit, changed the impeller and water pump housing and now the lower unit will not go back on correctly. It goes all the way on and gets stuck about 1 inch too short. It appears there is a bushing under the power-head that has moved. I can move it back in place but the movement of inserting the foot is moving it out of place again. I cannot jack the boat up enough to insert the shaft without the motor tilted. The water tube inserts correctly and the shift shaft is aligned. Any advice would be appreciated.

1998 175hp Mercury Offshore on 1998 Boston Whaler Ventura 20

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I worked on a Mercury engine this summer that had the same problem. I ended up using a copper tube loaded with heavy grease to push the bushing back into position and let the grease hold it. Get the engine as high as you can so that that it's at less of angle for the bushing to fall back out.
We played with it for about 2 hours, no easy job. Good luck.

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I will give that a try. Thanks!

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happened to me basically did samething

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I wanted to update this post. I followed the advice given here. I pulled the boat and trailer onto some car ramps, and dug a hole under the motor. I was able to align the "bushing" up using a rod with the motor all the way down. The lower unit went back on finally.

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That's great! I have been working on boats for years but I have never had to employ the use of a shovel,,,yet. :) Great solution though.

There is never a good ditch about 2-3 foot deep where and when you need it. You could have backed the boat up to the edge, lowered the engine and been in business. :)