RandyJ
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2002
- Messages
- 808
The latest boat I acquired is a 1978 Hammond 20' ski boat with a 350 chevy (260 Mercruiser) coupled to an outdrive with a 1.5 ratio (stock)<br />This weekend my boat was very difficult to shift from forward and from reverse unless I stopped engine first...then, while pulling kids at a hauling @ss speed on a tube the boat popped out of gear leaving us stranded in the water. After checking it out and adjusting the shift cable and control cable, my boat will not go in gear and stay there ...so I'm suspecting a problem in the lower unit...at first I thought I had spun a coupler or trashed a u-joint because it shifted good but wouldn't go anywhere. Now, I can push the shift shaft around with my finger (once the shifter is in gear) and it will go into gear but will not go on it's own and stay threre... Any of you old mechanics know what the problem is? I suspect either a worn out shifting clutch, shift spool, or shift arm (the thingy at the end of the shift shaft that pushes and pulls the spool). I've had this same problem on 140's before and still have not figured out what is wearing out...<br />Too.. what do I look for in deciding it is time to trash the gears because they are not shifting properly... I've had alot of problems with the old 140 because I could adjust cable to shift to forward or adjust to shift to forward but never could get it to shift to both until I replaced the whole outdrive with a 470 outdrive which I happened to acquire.