1979 Merc 110 w/thunderbolt wont change gears rev/or drive

[Mercrider]

I bought this boat about 1 month ago and i took it out on the water for the first time on friday, well i didn't have reverse or forward. when i put the boat in reverse it jerks into forward gear and idles forward and when i put the boat into nutral it comes out of gear idles, then I pout it in forward it just revs up. well here I am in the water kind of in a pickle. so i put it back in nutral and took the side cover off and took the bottom cable off which goes to the reverse. and I pushed it toward the bow of the boat which manually put it in forward gear and used it that way for the remainder of the weekend. I don't know how any of this works, when i put the new cables on when i restored the boat did i do it wrong? can i manually put it in reverse the way I did forward? what is the lever on the back side of the control box for?:facepalmlease help me this is my first boat:facepalm:

 

[CharlieB]

Re: 1979 Merc 110 w/thunderbolt wont change gears rev/or drive

New Cables?

I suspect you may have switched the cable position INSIDE the control box.

Need to identify which control box you have.

 

[Mercrider]

Re: 1979 Merc 110 w/thunderbolt wont change gears rev/or drive

I have a MerControl Box w/thunderbolt Ignition Blue stripe across the front Choke on the top with key switch in the back of the box thank you,