Need to tweak shift cable for reverse

[crazy charlie]

5.0 LX 1988 alpha,Shifting into fwd clean and easy.Reverse is racheting but not engaging.I have done this a looooong time ago and dont want to make things worse.Cables are recent with hardly any time on them.Anyone wanna walk me thru it please.my recolection is ,the lower of the 2 cables,pull cotter and slide out barrel,count the turns(i dont remember which way) slide barrel back in and check for reverse.Sound right?? Charlie

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... achris has a fine video of the process up in the Adults Only section,......

 

[crazy charlie]

Thanks.Never seen or been in that section.I dont even see it? Where the heck is it?

 

[crazy charlie]

found it...duhhh... thanks again

 

[crazy charlie]

ok update.Think I still need a little help.I had clean engaging fwd and racheting reverse not engaging.Did some tweaking of the lower barrel and the best I can seem to get is FWD and Reverse engaging but neither cleanly.Also the upper cable has been adjusted by moving base to the highest position as anything lower took away fwd engagement.Cable is only a few years old and I cant seem to get clean engagement of BOTH fwd and rev.

 

[icyb]

This worked for me but I never seen it discussed here. I don't have the plunger style cutoff switch,mine is like the picture. When in neutral the roller never would center in the valley. So I carefully bent it and got the 1/8 cutoff.
I'm no mechanic so I would like to here from the pros here.

 

[nola mike]

This worked for me but I never seen it discussed here. I don't have the plunger style cutoff switch,mine is like the picture. When in neutral the roller never would center in the valley. So I carefully bent it and got the 1/8 cutoff.
I'm no mechanic so I would like to here from the pros here.

His problem is with the engagement, not the cutoff. Did you check the cables for free play like in Chris's video?

 

[icyb]

I followed Chris's video to a tee ,my brass barrel is at 5 and 7/8 not 6 inches. Can't see that it's pinned but it's on there won't move. It shifts great unless my wife baby's it,will you get it in gear already. Do you think 1/8 inche off will make a difference? This was a couple years ago and mine couldn't find neutral.

 

[kenny nunez]

Sometimes when reverse is the problem there is a build up of marine growth in the front cavity in the bell housing restricting the slider from moving enough. Also the same symptom going into forward where the same material builds up in the rear cavity in the drive shaft housing Restricting the slider.

 

[Bt Doctur]

The second adjustment is with the stud itself. It can be raised or lowered to achieve good reverse, It all in the #6 manual

Mercruiser Service Manual 6 Outdrives R/MR/Alpha One/Alpha SS | PDF | Paint | Nut (Hardware)

Mercury Marine service manual for all Alpha One Generation 1 and prior outdrives.

www.scribd.com

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[crazy charlie]

View attachment 337478

Nice diagram,thanks.so mt position is adjusted uppr as far as it goes already.When i tried moving it down a bit i lost everything.do you think adjusting this down and then tweaking the lower barrel until i get fwd and rev is an option.Then i still have the upward adjustment that I can do??

 

[kenny nunez]

I think it is time to pull the drive and clean out the bell housing.

 

[crazy charlie]

I think it is time to pull the drive and clean out the bell housing.

nope,nothing but grease there.nothing else for the past 20 yrs

 

[kenny nunez]

Does the slider travel all the way to the front wall of the bell housing? I have had problems with the grease building up inside the slider restricting full travel. With the cable disconnected from the control box does the drive go all the way into reverse by pulling the on the lower cable?
Is your control box a Mercruiser or another generic brand?
Under the bell housing does the receiver look straight and not flared out where the shift lever engages it from the lower gear housing?

 

[crazy charlie]

Does the slider travel all the way to the front wall of the bell housing? I have had problems with the grease building up inside the slider restricting full travel. With the cable disconnected from the control box does the drive go all the way into reverse by pulling the on the lower cable?
Is your control box a Mercruiser or another generic brand?
Under the bell housing does the receiver look straight and not flared out where the shift lever engages it from the lower gear housing?

Drive is mounted so only a few things i can reply on.Shifter is a dual Uline. Receiver looks good but I can inspect closer.I usually grease that too.

 

[Rick Stephens]

For me the obvious elephant in the room is the need to replace the lower shift cable...