Anyone worked on lower units?

Ohhhh ... you’re talking about a boat motor

I hope so.

Is that a common motor where you live? Might be better off to buy the whole lower and bolt it on?

It only takes a few minutes to change them out. Make sure to put it a new water pump impeller..blades in the right direction so it doesn't cup.

It's also easy to rebuild them,but I am not sure you really come out any better. If you can buy a whole burned up motor for cheap,you might come out better.

Now,my experience is with older Johnsons and Evinrudes,you could just turn the gear around on those sometimes and have a good forward.
Maybe those are the same?

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Then have to figure out how water got in.

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I would sand all paint off,clean with acetone,the use some of that pink weld developer. You spray it on,let it dry good,then fine sand it. It will show cracks in the housing,that you might not be able to see with just your eyes.

Dye penetrate testing.

Im hoping not cracked and just a bad seal job

Mechanical shift. Basically the shifting rod has a tapered side as it goes into forward or reverse it pushes the dog component forward or backwards engaging the gears.

Im more concerned with special tooling i may need or missing something basic like a gasket or grease where lower mounts to the main body. No gasket there or diagrams but that seems off to me

That is not uncommon,where there is a casting that acts like a spacer. Bearings Sealed above and below. Of course, you can make your own gaskets.just make them thin.

A lot like building a gear case on a truck. From the picture, I don't see water. If you had water in it it would look white and milky. That looks like oil with a hell of a lot of metal shavings in it.

Once you start replacing gears, you are going to need shims, etc to get the backlash settings correct. They are very basic to build but for someone who does not do it on a regular basis it is going to cost you a lot of extra expenses for an assortment of shims and other things that you will need including the tools and setup to test for backlash. If you do not mesh those gears right, you will be doing it again in the very near future. Manuals and specs for spacing and backlash are available on line should you decide to try.

I’d be careful with Jerry. Had a good reputation but many mistakes coming out of his shop over the last few years.

It’s a simple job for them so I’m sure he can handle it, I just don’t trust him anymore.