I noticed the other day that when I shifted into either forward or reverse that I was able to tell it was going into gear, slight clunking noise, Is this normal?,
Is there something I need to check?

Jim

Had it long, been like this since you got it, or has there been a change? Running ok? If the gears are wearing down or the linkage gets misadjusted, it'll feel like you bumped the skeg on a stump every now & then, starting with little stumps at high speed and getting progressively worse.

Motor doesn't have a clutch; shifting just meshes a spinning gear into a nonspinning one - shifting quickly and decisively resulting in one good "clunk" is good - ease it into gear and you'll hear grinding, that's bad.

The "clunk" sound will change if the engine idle RPM's changes.

Is that a V6? Some of the V6's (maybe all?) have a "shift interupt switch" that disables the port bank of cylinders at the moment of shifting, to ease the strain on the gears - if the switch sticks, shifting gets harder. That's not really such a problem long as you are careful not to move it in or out of gear when the revs are up.

If you're concerned about a change in how it shifts, you might want to drain the gear oil to see if its making metal. Small amount of shavings on the plug magnet is normal.

jtexas, Boat is new to me, a 90's model evinrude, and this may just be a case of the gears meshing, Since it has been 20 years since I have owned a boat, maybe this was just my worries kicking in.. I do not get any grinding, and maybe when I heard it I was at a little higher RPM's. Usually I move the throttle a little until it engages and then apply power, and the newness and excitement of getting back on the water may have contributed.

Thanks for your response

Jim

when you shift , shift firmly , that easing it into gear causes the dog to ratchet ,clicking sound, this is bad ,it rounds off the dog, a firm direct motion will make the clunk sound this is what you want

j the clutch dog is pinned to the prop shaft and it slides on splines, on either side is a gear with lugs that mate up with the clutch dog lugs, forward and reverse gear turn all the time in opposite directions,as the pinion gear rest between them, the propshaft is engaged only when the clutch dog moves forward or backward from the neutral position, hope this helps as i said you want to shift firmly ,you will feel it engage right before the throttle kicks in, the clunk you hear is the lugs on dog and gear meshing

Stick,
Thanks for the explination,

Jim